News

ECHR Rejected the Referral Submitted by the Polish Government in the CIA Cases

On Tuesday (17 February 2015), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced that the referral submitted by the Polish government in the cases of Al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, held in alleged CIA prisons in Poland, will not be considered by the Grand Chamber. Thus, the judgement issued in July 2014 is now final.

In the July judgement, ECHR ruled that in the case of CIA prisoners a series of provisions of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms had been violated, including the prohibition of torture, right to a fair trial and the right to liberty and security of person.

ECHR also held that the Polish pre-trial proceedings had been prolonged and ineffective. ECHR finally concluded that Poland had enabled detention and torture of both applicants.

“It is the Polish state’s responsibility to execute these judgements, which will entail, among others, conducting effective pre-trial proceedings,” says advocate Mikołaj Pietrzak who represeted Al Nashiri.

For more than seven years, the prosecution has been conducting pre-trial proceedings in this case. The proceedings have recently been prolonged yet again until 11 April 2015.

According to advocate Mikołaj Pietrzak, in the current situation “we can expect from the state that the facts established in the proceedings will be disclosed, so that the society can learn which state mechanisms had failed and where are the sources of such horrendous violations of rights and freedoms in the territory of Poland.”