DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE REPIK, JOINED BY JUDGE PETTITI

( Translation )

I regret that I am unable to agree with the majority that Mr Hozee’s case was heard within a reasonable time and accordingly that there was no breach of Article 6 § 1.

The Court’s approach was different from its usual one in cases of this type. Taking as its starting-point its finding that the case was complex, it assessed the length of the proceedings as a whole and in a rather summary way, without conducting a more thorough analysis of the different stages of the proceedings.

Firstly, even though the proceedings under consideration did not begin until 14 June 1984, the fact that an administrative inquiry had already been under way for three years and must have reached an advanced stage by the time it was transferred to the FIOD (see paragraph 45 of the judgment) cannot be disregarded.

According to the Court of Appeal the length of the preliminary investigation (an additional four years and seven months) was caused primarily by the defence’s wish to have a number of witnesses questioned again (see paragraph 20 of the judgment). The FIOD finished questioning the witnesses on 10 June 1986. Even if the investigating judge did not start to hear the twenty-five witnesses until a later date, it took two years and seven months for them to be heard, that is more than a month each on average for taking evidence. That does not suggest that they were heard with the necessary degree of diligence.

The case was transferred to the court of first instance on 13 April 1989; it held two hearings, neither of which, apparently, lasted more than a day, and delivered judgment on 10 August 1989. That makes it doubtful that the case remained very complex by that stage of the proceedings. In any event, in view of the speed at which the proceedings before the court of first instance, whose role was the most demanding, were conducted, the length of the proceedings before the appellate courts (more than three years and three months) calls for an explanation that has not been forthcoming.

The Court’s approach risks creating unjustified inequalities in the determination of what constitutes a reasonable time within the meaning of Article 6 § 1. In a very similar case, Reinhardt and Slimane-Kaïd v. France, a period almost identical in length was held to be unreasonable and to have infringed Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

To my mind, the proceedings in the Hozee case lasted more than a reasonable time and there has been a violation of Article 6 § 1.

[1] . This summary by the registry does not bind the Court.

[2] Notes by the Registrar

. The case is numbered 81 / 1997 / 865 / 1076 . The first number is the case’s position on the list of cases referred to the Court in the relevant year (second number). The last two numbers indicate the case’s position on the list of cases referred to the Court since its creation and on the list of the corresponding originating applications to the Commission.

[3] . Rules of Court B, which came into force on 2 October 1994, apply to all cases concerning States bound by Protocol No. 9.

[4] . Note by the Registrar . For practical reasons this annex will appear only with the printed version of the judgment (in Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998), but a copy of the Commission’s report is obtainable from the registry.