issued by the Registrar of the Court

ECHR 237 (2016)

30.06.2016

Forthcoming hearing in July 2016

The European Court of Human Rights will be holding the following hearing in July 2016:
Simeonovi v. Bulgaria (application no. 21980/04), which mainly concerns the conditions of
detention and the detention regime of a whole life prisoner, as well as the lack of access to a lawyer
during his first days in detention.
After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which will be held in private. Its ruling in the
case will, however, be made at a later stage. A limited number of seats are reserved for the press. To
be sure of having a place, you need to book in advance by contacting the Press Unit (+33 (0)3 90 21
42 08).

On 6 July 2016 at 9.15 a.m.: Grand Chamber hearing in the case of Simeonovi
v. Bulgaria (application no. 21980/04)
The applicant, Filip Lyubenov Simeonov, is a Bulgarian national who was born in 1975. He is currently
serving a sentence in Sofia Prison.
On 4 October 1999 Mr Simeonov was detained for 24 hours on suspicion of having committed an
armed robbery and a double murder, together with an accomplice. The following day his detention
was extended for a further three days. Mr Simeonov alleges that he unsuccessfully requested the
assistance of a lawyer during the first three days of his detention.
On 14 June 2001 the District Court found Mr Simeonov guilty of committing armed robbery and
double murder at a bureau de change in Burgas, together with an accomplice, and of illegally
acquiring a pistol and ammunition. The District Court sentenced him to life imprisonment without
commutation, the most severe sentence available under the Bulgarian Criminal Code. The court also
ordered Mr Simeonovs placement under the special detention regime. The Court of Appeal
upheld the first-instance judgment, and the Court of Cassation dismissed an appeal on points of law
by Mr Simeonov.
Mr Simeonov was imprisoned in Burgas temporary detention centre, then transferred respectively
to Burgas and Sofia Prisons, where he remains to date.
Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European
Convention on Human Rights, Mr Simeonov notably complains of the physical conditions of
detention and of the regime under which he was held in Burgas temporary detention centre and in
Burgas and Sofia Prisons. Under Article 6 3 (c) (right to be assisted by a lawyer), taken together
with Article 6 1 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention, he further alleges that he was not
assisted by a lawyer during the first days of his detention
In its Chamber judgment of 20 October 2015 the Court held, unanimously, that there had been a
violation of Article 3 of the Convention on account of Mr Simeonovs poor conditions of detention
and the restrictive detention regime applied to his life sentence. The Chamber further held,
unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 6 3 (c) taken together with Article 6 1; it
considered that the fact that Mr Simeonov had not been assisted by a lawyer during the first three
days of his detention had not infringed his right to defend himself effectively in the context of the

criminal proceedings. His right not to incriminate himself had been complied with and the fairness of
the criminal proceedings had indeed been respected.
On 14 March 2016 the Grand Chamber Panel accepted Mr Simeonovs request that the case be
referred to the Grand Chamber.

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The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member
States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.