Preventive detention
December 17, 2009
The European Court of Human Rights said the applicant's continued detention in Germany was not justified by the risk that he could commit further serious offences if released.
The court said the potential offences were not "sufficiently concrete and specific" to warrant keeping the man in prison.
The prisoner in question, known as M., was convicted of attempted murder and robbery in 1986. At the time of the offence, the maximum period for preventive detention was 10 years.
M. has served out his sentence but his repeated requests for a suspension on probation of his preventive detention have been dismissed by several German courts.
The law was changed in 1998 allowing the unlimited preventive detention of criminals who were still considered dangerous, even if they had completed their sentences.
The man complained to the European Court of Human Rights, saying his continued time in prison violated his right to liberty.
A press release from the court said the extended detention of the man "constituted an additional penalty which had been imposed on the applicant retroactively."
The court said it was not convinced that the extended detention was merely the execution of the penalty imposed by the sentencing court, as argued by the German government.
The court awarded the man 50,000 euros ($71,700) in damages.
Author: Clare Atkinson
Editor: Sean Sinico