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X. v. AUSTRIA

Doc ref: 4835/71 • ECHR ID: 001-3139

Document date: March 20, 1972

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Cited paragraphs: 0
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X. v. AUSTRIA

Doc ref: 4835/71 • ECHR ID: 001-3139

Document date: March 20, 1972

Cited paragraphs only

THE FACTS

The facts of the case as submitted by the applicant may be summarised

as follows:

I. The applicant is an Austrian citizen, born in 1930 and at present

detained in prison at G. His application concerns the following

criminal proceedings:

1. From his statements and the documents submitted by him, it appears

that he was on .. December 1957 convicted by the Regional Court

(Landesgericht) of I. on a charge of murder and sentenced to

imprisonment for life.

The applicant accepted this judgement but now complains that he was

wrongly convicted and sentenced.

2. On .. July 1958 the applicant was convicted by the Regional Court

(Landesgericht ) of S. on charges of robbery and theft. He accepted

this conviction.

His application for a retrial (Wiederaufnahme des Strafverfahrens) was

dismissed by the Regional Court on .. July 1967 and, an appeal

(Beschwerde), by the Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht) of L. on ..

November 1967. A further petition for retrial was refused by the

Regional Court on .. April 1969.

Affirming his innocence, the applicant complains that he was wrongly

convicted in 1958.

3. On .. October 1968 the Regional Court (Kreisgericht) of S. convicted

the applicant on a charge of false accusation and sentenced him to the

penalty of "sleeping hard" ("hartes Lager") once every month over a

period of six months.

The applicant's appeal (Berufung) was dismissed by the Court of Appeal

of L. on .. December 1968.

Affirming his innocence, the applicant complains that he was again

wrongly convicted and sentenced.

4. Criminal charges were brought by the applicant against a public

prosecutor and against a witness in June 1970 but the Public

Prosecutor's Offices (Staatsanwaltschaften) of L. and S. refused to

prosecute.

II. With regard to the proceedings mentioned under I, above, the

applicant alleges violations of Articles 3 and 5 of the Convention.

III. By letter of 20 June 1971 the applicant informed the Commission

that he intended to address himself to the press. In reply, he was

reminded by letter of 29 June 1971 from the Commission's Secretary that

the Commission meets in camera and that the case-files on applications,

including correspondence and documentation, should not be made

available to the public.

By letter of 3 January 1972 the applicant has requested the Commission:

- either, to allow him to publish certain documents concerning his

case, or

- to discontinue its proceedings in this application.

THE LAW

As to the applicant's request for permission to publish documents

relating to this application

Article 33 (Art. 33) of the Convention stipulates that the Commission

shall meet in camera. This has been consistently interpreted by the

Commission to mean that the contents of the case-files in all

applications before it are to be treated as confidential and that,

consequently, neither party to an application is authorised to divulge

the contents of their written or oral pleadings in the case. All

applicants are warned of this situation. As regards the stage of

admissibility, the Commission's decisions declaring an application

admissible, inadmissible or struck off the list of cases are alone

available to the public. In applications which have been declared

admissible, the Commission's reports to the Committee of Ministers

drawn up under Article 30 (Art. 30) are published in accordance with

the provisions of that Article. Reports drawn up under Article 31

(Art. 31) are published in pursuance of the provisions of Article 32

(3) (Art. 32-3) in fine. They may also be published, as the case may

be, at the direction of the Court of Human Rights or, as a matter of

practice subject to a few exceptions, with the authorization of the

Committee of Ministers. Finally, the Commission may, at any stage of

the proceedings, authorise its Secretary to issue press communiqués in

cases of general interest. It follows that the Commission's present

decision will be available for publication but that the Commission

cannot authorise the applicant to publish in any form the submissions

or documentation submitted by him, other than as mentioned in the text

of this decision. There has been no press communiqué issued in this

case.

As to the applicant's request that the proceedings should be

discontinued

The Commission has noted the applicant's alternative request that the

proceedings in this case should be discontinued. It finds no reasons

of a general character affecting the observance of the Convention which

would necessitate a further examination of this application.

For these reasons, the Commission:

1. decides to refuse the applicant's request for permission to

publish certain documents relating to this application

2. decides to accept the applicant's request that the proceedings

should be discontinued and, consequently, to strike this application

off the list of cases

LEXI

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