CASE OF IALAMOV v. THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-1 - Lawful arrest or detention)
Ledi Bianku;Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström
6. The applicant was born in 1986 and lived in Chisinau. 7. On 6 April 2009 he was arrested on a charge of murder. Later he was also charged with several counts of theft. 8. The applicant was held in pre-trial detention until 21 January 2011, when he was acquitted of the murder charges but convicted for theft and sentenced to one year and six months’ imprisonment. In view of the duration of his pre-trial detention, he was immediately released. 9. During the trial the applicant’s detention was extended periodically. One of the extensions concerned the period between 1 and 30 September 2009. On 28 September 2009, two days before the expiry of that period, the prosecutor in charge of the case applied for another extension. The applicant argued in his submissions, inter alia, that such an order was not allowed because the prosecutor had failed to comply with the provisions of Article 186 § 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that is that such an application had to be lodged at the latest five days before the expiry of the detention period. Nevertheless, the prosecutor’s application was accepted by the court on 29 September 2009 and the applicant’s pre-trial detention was prolonged by twenty-five days. An appeal by the applicant was later dismissed by the Court of Appeal without any consideration being given to his argument set out above.