FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 56450/19 L.C. against the Netherlands

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 9 September 2021 as a Committee composed of:

Armen Harutyunyan, President, Jolien Schukking, Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges, and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 22 October 2019,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS and procedure

The applicant, Mr L.C., was born in 1958.

The applicant was represented by Mr H. Eckert, a lawyer practising in Groningen.

The application concerns the alleged lack of any genuine prospect of the applicant’s release from his life-imprisonment sentence. That sentence was imposed on him when he was convicted by the Court of Appeal of The Hague in January 1989 of being the co-perpetrator of manslaughter and of a triple murder. It became final by judgment of the Supreme Court of 5 December 1989. The applicant has been detained in relation to the offences of which he was convicted since 9 October 1987. Between 1996 and 2015 he lodged six requests for a pardon, which were all rejected.

The applicant originates from Hong Kong and has British National (Overseas) status. The Dutch authorities imposed an exclusion order on him in 1991.

The applicant alleged, in essence, that the life sentence which had been imposed on him in January 1989 was de jure and de facto irreducible, contrary to Article 3 of the Convention, both taken alone and in conjunction with Article 13.

On 28 May 2021 the Registry sent a letter to the applicant’s representative informing him that it had appeared from information available to it from public sources that the applicant had been granted a pardon. In view of that development, the representative was requested to inform the Court whether the applicant wished to maintain his application. On 11 June 2021 the representative replied that the applicant no longer wished to maintain his application.

THE LAW

In the light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue the application (Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention). Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine , the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto which require the continued examination of the application.

Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Done in English and notified in writing on 30 September 2021.

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Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan Acting Deputy Registrar President