Judges have agreed to a Grand Chamber hearing into the case of a woman convicted of terrorism offences whose prison release has been delayed by Spanish authorities.
The decision to refer Del Rio Prada v. Spain (application no. 42750/09), to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights was taken on 22 October. The case concerns the postponement of the date of the applicant’s release, in application of new case-law (the so-called “Parot doctrine”), adopted by the Supreme Court after she had been sentenced.
The applicant, Ines Del Rio Prada, is a Spanish national who was born in 1958. She is serving a prison sentence in the region of Murcia (Spain). In eight sets of criminal proceedings for offences linked to terrorist attacks, she was sentenced to various prison terms.
In its judgment of 10 July 2012, the Court unanimously held that there had been a violation of Article 7 (no punishment without law) and a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court considered that it had been impossible for Ms Del Rio Prada to foresee the retroactive application to her case of the change in the case-law on calculating remission, resulting in an extension of nine years to the length of her sentence.
The Court further held that Spain was to ensure the applicant’s release at the earliest possible date.
