CASE OF ZAGALSKI v. POLAND
Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-3 - Length of pre-trial detention)
Aleš Pejchal;Armen Harutyunyan
4. The applicant was born in 1982 and lives in Warsaw. 5. On 29 November 2012 the Warsaw-Wola District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) ordered the applicant’s detention on remand on suspicion of drug dealing, as well as facilitating and benefiting from prostitution, committed in an organised criminal group. The domestic court relied on a strong likelihood that the applicant had committed the offences in question, on the fact that he faced a severe penalty and that he was suspected of acting with accomplices. The likelihood that the applicant had committed the offences in question was established, in particular, on the basis of the testimony of a key prosecution witness (the so-called “crown witness”). 6. On 8 January 2013 the Warsaw Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed the applicant’s appeal against this decision. It stressed that the sole fact that the applicant faced a severe penalty and had been suspected of committing offences in an organised criminal group justified a suspicion that, if released, the applicant would try to obstruct the proceedings by influencing witnesses or his accomplices. 7. The applicant’s detention on remand was extended by the Warsaw Regional Court on 21 February, 27 May and 8 August 2013. In these decisions, the court repeated the reasons originally relied on. In its decision of 21 February 2013, the Warsaw Regional Court further noted that the case against the applicant was complex, and indicated a number of steps that still had to be taken in order to terminate the investigation. The court noted that not all of those steps required the applicant’s detention and urged the prosecutor to accelerate the proceedings. 8. The applicant appealed against all these decisions, without success. 9. On 21 November 2013 the Warsaw Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) ordered a further extension of the applicant’s detention on remand. It relied on the same grounds as previously given for his detention. The applicant appealed. The decision was upheld on appeal on 12 December 2013. 10. The bill of indictment against the applicant was lodged with the Warsaw Regional Court on 30 December 2013. The applicant was charged with ten offences committed in an organised criminal group and – in the case of some of the offences – as a re-offender. The charges included facilitating prostitution by renting an apartment to prostitutes and collecting money from them, and a number of counts of drug possession and distribution. The bill of indictment concerned altogether seventeen accused, charged with 150 offences. Later, the number of accused in the proceedings dropped to fourteen. The prosecutor requested that the court hear over 90 witnesses, including five “crown witnesses”. 11. Subsequently, the applicant’s detention pending trial was extended by the Warsaw Regional Court’s decisions of 10 January and 7 May 2014 and by the Warsaw Court of Appeal’s decisions of 30 December 2014, 28 April, 27 August and 26 November 2015, and of 25 February and 25 May 2016. The domestic courts continued to rely on the same grounds for detention as in their previous decisions. They also stressed the complexity of the case and the links between the co-accused within an organised criminal group which, according to the domestic courts, justified a suspicion that, if released, they would attempt to obstruct the proper course of the proceedings. 12. The appeals by the applicant against decisions extending his detention and all his applications for release were unsuccessful. 13. On 9 May 2016 the trial court ordered the applicant’s release on bail for 80,000 Polish zlotys (PLN) (approximately 20,000 euros (EUR)). The applicant appealed against this decision, contesting the amount of bail as excessive. On 25 May 2016 the Warsaw Court of Appeal upheld the decision. It underlined that the amount of bail had to take into consideration not only the financial situation of the applicant, but also the gravity of the charges against him. The court also stated that it had taken into consideration the fact that the applicant had abused his procedural rights in order to obstruct and delay the proceedings. It indicated that the amount in question had to be such that the prospect of its loss would constitute a genuine deterrent against any illegal activities which, until that moment, had been prevented by the applicant’s detention. 14. On 30 May 2016 the Warsaw Regional Court again ordered the applicant’s release on bail of PLN 80,000. It also imposed a prohibition on leaving the country. The applicant paid the security required by the court and was released on 31 May 2016. 15. The case against the applicant and his co-accused appears to be pending before the Warsaw Regional Court (no. XII K 1/14). The material includes 188 volumes.