Published on 25 September 2023

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 1949/22 Leonidas LEONIDOU against Cyprus lodged on 27 December 2021 communicated on 8 September 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the length of criminal proceedings against the applicant in the first instance (case no. 9547/15) and on appeal (no. 85/20). According to the applicant, an investigation into the alleged offences of, inter alia, fabricating evidence, commenced in March 2011, and ended in March 2014. On 24 June 2015 criminal proceedings were lodged against the applicant with the District Court of Nicosia, which on 26 May 2020 sentenced the applicant to six months’ imprisonment. His appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 28 June 2021.

The applicant complains under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of the criminal proceedings overall, which allegedly lasted a total of ten years from the commencement of the investigation until their conclusion on appeal.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Was the length of the criminal proceedings in the present case in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In this connection, bearing in mind the applicant’s complaint, which is the period to be taken into account in order to assess the reasonableness of the criminal proceedings in the present case (see, among others, Aresti Charalambous v. Cyprus , no. 43151/04, § 44- 47, 19 July 2007, and Pélissier and Sassi v. France [GC], no. 25444/94 , § 67, ECHR 1999 ‑ II)?