The right to a fair trial; the deprivation of the complainant of the right to participate in a court sitting concerning the execution of a protective measure involving the placement of the complainant in a secure psychiatric facility SK 13/14
Ref. No. SK 13/14
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 22 March 2017
The Constitutional Tribunal, in a bench composed of:
Leon Kieres –Presiding Judge
Julia Przyłębska
Piotr Pszczółkowski – Judge Rapporteur
Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka
Michał Warciński,
having considered, at a sitting in camera on 22 March 2017 – in accordance with Article 92(1)(1) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. item 2072) – a constitutional complaint submitted by Mr M.W., in which he requested the Tribunal to examine the conformity of:
Article 22(1) in conjunction with Article 204 of the Act of 6 June 1997 – the Executive Penal Code (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. No. 90, item 557, as amended), insofar as it deprives a person placed in a secure psychiatric facility – where the said placement is intended as a protective measure – of the right to participate in a court sitting concerning the execution of the said protective measure, to Article 45(1) of the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
Article 204(1) and (2) in conjunction with Article 22(1) of the Act of 6 June 1997 – the Executive Penal Code (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. No. 90, item 557, as amended), insofar as it does not stipulate that a perpetrator placed in a secure psychiatric facility – where the said placement is intended as a protective measure – has the right to participate in person in a court sitting concerning the execution of the said protective measure, is inconsistent with Article 45(1) in conjunction with Article 41(1) and Article 31(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
The ruling was unanimous.
Leon Kieres
Julia Przyłębska
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka
Michał Warciński