Communicated on 12 July 2017

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 25092/15 Martin LITSCHAUER against the Republic of Moldova lodged on 12 May 2015

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant ’ s detention pending trial for several months on charges of operating a prostitution business . The applicant, an Austrian national, was accused of running an erotic web-cam business in Moldova. He alleges that his detention was not lawful under domestic law, since neither the criminal law in force nor the case-law of the domestic courts had previously interpreted the practicing of erotic web-cam shows/interactions as prostitution. He also alleges that his detention was not based on a reasonable suspicion that he had committed an offence and that it was not based on relevant and sufficient reasons.

QUESTIONS tO THE PARTIES

1. Was the applicant ’ s detention ordered “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law” for the purposes of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention (see Steel and Others v. the United Kingdom , 23 September 1998, § 54, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998 ‑ VII)?

2. Was the applicant deprived of his liberty in breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, was the applicant ’ s detention based on a reasonable suspicion that he had committed an offence (see Muşuc v. Moldova , no. 42440/06, §§ 29-34, 6 November 2007) ?

3. Was the applicant ’ s detention based on relevant and sufficient reasons, as required by Article 5 § 3 of the Convention (see Buzadji v. the Republic of Moldova [GC], no. 23755/07 , §§ 115-23, ECHR 2016 (extracts))?