Communicated on 16 April 2018

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 65686/14 Attila László FEHÉR against Hungary lodged on 12 September 2014

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Attila László Fehér , is a Hungarian national, who was born in 1965 and is detained in Sopronkőhida .

The circumstances of the case

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

From 27 October until 24 December 2010 the applicant was in pre-trial detention.

On 26 September 2012 he was convicted of an attempted drug-abuse offense and sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment by the Győr High Court. He appealed and on the same day he was placed in pre-trial detention again until the adoption of the second-instance judgment.

On 19 September 2013 the Győr Court of Appeal quashed the High Court ’ s judgment and remitted the case to the first-instance.

On 13 December 2013 the applicant requested his release from pre-trial detention. His request was dismissed by the Győr High Court on 17 December 2013 finding that there was a risk of absconding owing the severity of the punishment, the applicant ’ s permanent residence being in the Netherlands and the applicant ’ s failure to appear at the first court hearing. This decision was upheld on appeal by the Győr Court of Appeal on 26 February 2014.

At the time of lodging of the application the case was pending before the trial court and the applicant remained in detention.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains that the length of his pre-trial detention was excessive, in breach of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Have the repeated extensions of the applicant ’ s pre-trial detention been in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention?