CASE OF KUC v. SLOVAKIA
Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-3 - Reasonableness of pre-trial detention)
Alena Poláčková;Branko Lubarda;Georgios A. Serghides;Helen Keller;Helena Jäderblom;Luis López Guerra;Pere Pastor Vilanova
6. The applicant was born in 1979 and is currently detained in the Trenčín hospital for charged and convicted persons. 7. The applicant was arrested on 1 January 2012 and charges were brought against him the following day for the criminal offence of endangering public safety. The charge was based on the suspicion that he had made home-made explosive devices; that he had sent some of them, together with written threats, to veterinarians and the head office of a supermarket chain; and that he had planted one of the devices next to a fast food outlet and had allowed it to explode with a view to promoting animal rights. 8. On 4 January 2012 the Košice I District Court remanded the applicant in custody pending trial to prevent him from continuing his criminal activity. The District Court took into account, inter alia, the nature of the criminal charge and the fact that the applicant had been having long-term psychiatric treatment. An interlocutory appeal by the applicant was unsuccessful. 9. Courts at two levels of jurisdiction reviewed and confirmed the lawfulness of the applicant’s detention on five occasions as follows. 10. Between 28 March 2012 and 21 May 2012 courts at two levels dismissed applications by the applicant for release. They relied on a risk of reoffending and took into account new charges that had been brought against him as well as the testimony of various witnesses and victims. In that connection, they referred to evidence that the applicant had been planning his attacks for a long time and in a systematic way. On 3 May 2012 the domestic courts added new grounds for his detention, namely a risk that he might abscond. That was based on a statement by a witness who had allegedly said that the applicant had declared that he would try to flee if he was arrested. The evidence in the case, in particular the applicant’s computer, suggested that he had “entertained the idea of counterfeiting an ID”. 11. On 11 June 2012 the District Court prolonged the applicant’s detention by five months (until 1 January 2013) on the grounds that the investigation was not finished, that further charges had been brought against him since May 2012, and that the criminal charges had been reclassified as a crime of terrorism and the acquisition and possession of firearms. The domestic courts concluded that his criminal case was complex owing to the extent and nature of his criminal activity and repeated the grounds for his detention, namely the possibility of his reoffending and absconding. The court also ordered a report by an expert on extremism and terrorism. That decision was upheld on appeal. 12. At the pre-trial stage the applicant was committed to the hospital for charged and convicted persons in Trenčín on two occasions, namely between January and February 2012 and March and June 2012 because, inter alia, he had demonstrated signs of anxiety, made threats of suicide and needed to have his mental state examined. 13. On 1 October 2012 the applicant was indicted to stand trial on the above charges before the District Court. 14. Between 3 October and 27 December 2012 the applicant applied two more times for release to courts at two levels of jurisdiction. Given the serious accusations made against him in the meantime (on 1 October 2012) for crimes including terrorism, the courts upheld both grounds for his continued detention. In addition, they referred to a witness statement that the applicant had written a will where he had expressed the alleged intention to commit a terrorist suicide attack. Furthermore, the courts rejected bail and guarantees of supervision offered by the applicant’s parents since they had been unable to prevent the crimes while the applicant had lived in their house. 15. The District Court held seven hearings in the criminal case against the applicant. It examined oral and documentary evidence, including evidence from several experts. It delivered its judgment on 19 June 2013, finding the applicant guilty of the charges and sentencing him to twenty-five years in prison. However, on 30 October 2013 the Regional Court quashed the judgment following an appeal by the applicant and remitted the case to the District Court for re-examination. 16. The Regional Court observed that in the course of the appellate proceedings, on 24 October 2013, the applicant had submitted a report by two certified experts concluding that he had long been suffering from a mental schizotypal disorder preventing him from understanding the illegal nature of his behaviour and from controlling it (“the second expert report”). Those conclusions were contrary to those in a report by two other experts at the pre-trial stage of the proceedings (“the first expert report”), which had concluded that the applicant was not suffering from a mental illness but merely a personality disorder. Resolving that contradiction was imperative in order to establish whether or not the applicant was criminally responsible. The Regional Court therefore instructed the District Court to obtain a third opinion from an expert institute. In addition, it ordered the lower court to resolve an issue concerning the legal classification of the applicant’s impugned actions. 17. In the meantime, on 4 September 2013, while the criminal proceedings were pending on appeal, the Regional Court decided to keep the applicant in detention on the same grounds as before (see paragraph 14 above). 18. The subsequent course of the trial is described in paragraphs 27 et seq. below. 19. After the verdict was quashed on appeal and remitted to the District Court for re-examination, the applicant, assisted by his lawyer, applied for release on 23 December 2013. He referred to his mental disorder as established in the second expert report of 24 October 2013. He added that he had been seeing a psychiatrist since the age of 14 and needed medicine on a daily basis to prevent suicidal thoughts. He could not live without that medicine, even in detention, as he required treatment and sessions with a psychiatrist. He submitted that there was no risk of him absconding if at large as he had only had a basic education, had no financial means, no job, had never travelled alone outside his home town, and was completely dependent on his parents, emotionally, financially and for everyday care. Moreover, there was no risk he would continue his criminal activity if he was under medication and being properly treated, or, alternatively, if he was committed to a psychiatric institution, as he feared for the future after the charges had been brought against him. 20. The applicant’s parents supported his application for release and offered to stand as guarantors of his pledge that he would live in accordance with the law. They also supported his request that his detention be replaced by supervision by a parole officer. 21. On 10 January 2014 the District Court heard the applicant, his lawyer, and the Public Prosecution Service as regards his request for release. According to the transcript of the hearing, the applicant and his counsel reiterated and further developed their arguments made in the application and submitted that his mental condition meant that his absconding was not realistic. 22. The Government’s observations show that on the same date the District Court sent a letter to the director of the detention centre in Košice where the applicant was being held, asking for information about the applicant’s state of health. It enquired whether the applicant was being provided with the drugs he had been prescribed and whether the detention centre was able to provide the applicant with his treatment. The director of the detention centre replied on the same day in the affirmative. 23. On 13 January 2014 the District Court dismissed the applicant’s application to be released and his supplementary requests, a decision that was upheld by the Regional Court on 29 January 2014 after an interlocutory appeal by the applicant. 24. The courts concluded that there was still a strong suspicion against the applicant, which added to the reasons for keeping him detained. They observed that he had created explosives and contemplated where to plant them over a long time and in a systematic way. He had lived with his parents and a search of the home they shared had shown that they had clearly not been aware of his illegal activities and had been unable to prevent them. The applicant faced a particularly severe potential penalty, had declared openly that he would try and flee in case of arrest and a search of his computer had suggested that he had contemplated counterfeiting an ID. Regarding the nature, scope and seriousness of the alleged offences and the applicant’s character, the courts concluded that the conditions for a restriction of liberty still existed. In addition, they observed that the relevant authorities had proceeded with the case expeditiously and with due diligence. Moreover, the courts found that the requirements for alternative measures, such as a parental guarantee, a pledge by the applicant or replacing his detention with supervision had not been met. There was no separate consideration of the applicant’s mental condition as such. The correspondence between the district court and the director of the detention centre was not mentioned in the courts’ decisions. 25. The applicant subsequently turned to the Constitutional Court with a complaint under Article 127 of the Constitution, alleging a violation of his rights, inter alia, under Article 5 §§ 1 (c), 3 and 4 of the Convention, or their constitutional equivalents. As to the substance, he raised arguments that were similar to those in his application to be released. He added that the courts had failed to take into account the specific nature of his situation, consisting of his mental disorder; that the length of his detention had been excessive and based on irrelevant and insufficient reasons; and that the only matter open to debate was whether he was legally insane, which impacted on his criminal liability. 26. On 2 April 2014 the Constitutional Court dismissed the complaint as manifestly ill-founded. It endorsed the reasons given by the ordinary courts and concluded that they had been relevant and sufficient to keep the applicant detained. It gave no answer to his argument concerning the specific nature of his situation. 27. Following remittal of the case by the Regional Court, the District Court asked the expert institute on 9 December 2013 to produce a report on the applicant’s mental condition. On 20 March 2014 it also ordered that the applicant be admitted to the psychiatric department of the Trenčín hospital for charged and convicted persons in order to have his mental health examined. The report was filed on 1 July 2014, and the District Court heard the case between January and July 2014. 28. On 10 July 2014 the District Court again found the applicant guilty. The Regional Court dismissed an appeal by the applicant on 10 October 2014. He was sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment, thirty-six months’ protective supervision and payment of damages. No ordinary appeal being available, the judgment became final and binding. 29. Nevertheless, the applicant appealed on points of law and the Supreme Court quashed the District and Regional Court judgments owing to breaches of the law to the applicant’s disadvantage. The matter was remitted to the District Court for fresh examination. The Supreme Court provided an extensive interpretation of the criminal offence of terrorism and concluded that the lower courts’ legal interpretation of the case had been wrong as the applicant’s motive had not included elements of the crime of terrorism. 30. Subsequently, the case returned to the District Court and the applicant remained detained pending trial as of 14 April 2016. 31. Taking into account the Supreme Court’s judgment and its legal interpretation of the crime in question, the District Court once again found the applicant guilty of, inter alia, the criminal offence of endangering public safety, the illegal acquisition, possession and trafficking of firearms, the making of serious threats, extortion, and attempted bodily harm and sentenced him to twenty-three years and six months in prison on 29 September 2016. It also ordered protective supervision lasting thirty-six months. The applicant appealed and those proceedings are still pending. 32. On 29 November 2016 the applicant was transferred from the Košice detention centre to the hospital in Trenčín after he reportedly collapsed.