Information Note on the Court’s case-law 18

May 2000

Vilborg Yrsa Sigurđardóttir v. Iceland - 32451/96

Judgment 30.5.2000 [Section I]

Article 6

Article 6-2

Presumption of innocence

Test of probability of guilt applied in determining entitlement to compensation following acquittal: friendly settlement

The applicant and her cohabitee, P., were arrested in the course of an investigation in a drug-related case. P . was kept in custody but the applicant was released the next day. She was interrogated again at a later stage and arrested without any court order. The order remanding her in custody was issued the following day. She was released a month afterwards, the d etention order having been prolonged. The Supreme Court eventually found P. guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced him to imprisonment. The public prosecutor then issued an indictment against the applicant. However, she was acquitted and subsequently dec ided to claim compensation for her arrest and detention. Her claims were rejected and she appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the decision. The test applied was whether it was more likely that the applicant was guilty than innocent.

The parties hav e reached a friendly settlement providing for an ex gratia payment to the applicant of 1,500,000 kronur (ISK) and payment of 1,800,000 kronur in respect of legal costs. Furthermore, the legislative provision at issue has been repealed.

© Council of Europe /European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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