Szalai v. Hungary

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 14124/24 Krisztiánné SZALAI against Hungary

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 7 November 2024 as a Committee composed of:

Davor Derenčinović , President , Gediminas Sagatys, Stéphane Pisani , judges ,

and Attila Teplán, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 7 May 2024,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicant’s details are set out in the appended table.

The applicant was represented by Mr D. Kiss, a lawyer practising in Budapest.

The applicant’s complaints under Articles 6 § 1 and 13 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of criminal proceedings and the absence of a remedy were communicated to the Hungarian Government (“the Government”).

THE LAW

In the present application, having examined all the material before it, the Court considers that for the reasons stated below, the respondent Government cannot be held liable for the alleged violations.

In particular, the Court notes that the domestic courts expressly acknowledged the undue length of the proceedings and took this element into account, when sentencing the applicant, as an important mitigating factor. Consequently, the applicant is no longer a victim of the alleged violation of Article 6, for the purposes of Article 34 of the Convention.

It follows that this complaint is incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) and must be rejected, pursuant to Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

Furthermore, in the absence of an arguable claim of a violation of Article 6, the applicant’s complaint under Article 13 is incompatible ratione materiae with the provisions of the Convention within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) and must be rejected, pursuant to Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Declares the application inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 28 November 2024.

Attila Teplán Davor Derenčinović Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention

(excessive length of criminal proceedings)

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Start of proceedings

End of proceedings

Total length

Levels of jurisdiction

Other complaints under

well-established case-law

14124/24

07/05/2024

Krisztiánné SZALAI

1991

Kiss Dániel Bálint

Budapest

11/11/2016

14/02/2024

7 year(s) and 3 month(s)

and 4 day(s)

2 level(s) of jurisdiction

Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of excessive length of criminal proceedings