The article provides a legal analysis of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in such cases like “Vinter and Others v. The United Kingdom”, “Hutchinson v. The United Kingdom”. The European Court of Human Rights has established key standards for those sentenced to life imprisonment, compliance with which will ensure that this type of punishment meets the requirements of the Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Such standards are:

1) sentencing of life imprisonment is not prohibited and does not conflict with the Article 3 or any other article of the Convention. The imposition of “non-reducible” life imprisonment may raise questions of compliance with the requirements of the Article 3 of the Convention;

2) in decision making whether life imprisonment can be considered as “non-reducible”, it is necessary to establish whether the person convicted to life imprisonment had any prospect of release. If national law provides for the possibility of reviewing life imprisonment regarding its mitigating, reducing, terminating or releasing, this is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of th Article 3 of the Convention;

3) for the purposes of the Article 3 of the Convention it is sufficient that life imprisonment is reducible de jure and de facto;

4) European penitentiary policy is currently focusing on the correctional purpose of imprisonment, in particular until the end of long prison sentences;

5) at the very beginning of the sentence a person convicted to life imprisonment has the right to know what he must do to consider the possibility of his release and under what conditions the sentence will be reviewed or also in what order a request to this may be made;

6) if domestic law does not provide for any mechanism or possibility to review life imprisonment, then the non-compliance with the requirements of the Article 3 of the Convention occurs at the time of imposition of life imprisonment and not at a later stage.

The importance of such standards separating of the European Court of Human Rights for the national theory and practice of life imprisonment is that these provisions are effective guidelines for determining the prospects of releasing from sentencing in the form life imprisonment.

Key words: European Court of Human Rights, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, case law, convict, life imprisonment.

References

1. Сouncil of Europe (1950), European Convention on Human Rights Сouncil of Europe, Rome.
2. European Court of Human Rights (1978), Сase of Ireland v. the United Kingdom (application nos. 5310/71,) European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, available at: www.law.umich.edu/facultyhome/ drwcasebook/Documents/Documents/Republic%20of%20Ireland%20v.%20United%20Kingdom.pdf (accessed 12 March 2020).
3. European Court of Human Rights (2013), Case of Vinter and others v. The United Kingdom (applications nos. 66069/09, 130/10 and 3896/10), European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, available at: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=001-122664 &filename=001-122664.pdf&TID=uynnlohkyr (accessed 12 March 2020).
4. European Court of Human Rights (2019), Factsheet – Life imprisonment, European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, available at: www.echr.coe.int/Documents/FS_Life_sentences_ENG.pdf (accessed 12 March 2020).
5. European Court of Human Rights (2008), Сase of Kafkaris v. Cyprus (application no. 21906/04), European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, available at: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR &id=001-85019&filename=001-85019.pdf (accessed 12 March 2020).
6. Life imprisonment in England and Wales, available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_England_and_Wales (accessed: 12.03.2020).
7. European Court of Human Rights (2017), Сase of Hutchinson v. the United Kingdom (application no. 57592/08), European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, available at: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/docx/pdf? library=ECHR&id=001-170347&filename=CASE%20OF%20HUTCHINSON %20v.%20THE%20UNITED%20KINGDOM.pdf&logEvent=False (accessed 12 March 2020).
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9. European Court of Human Rights (2017), Сase of Matiošaitis and others v. Lithuania (applications no. 22662/13, 51059/13, 58823/13, 59692/13, 59700/13, 60115/13, 69425/13 and 72824/13), European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, available at: https://sip.lex.pl/orzeczenia-i-pisma-urzedowe/orzeczenia-sadow/22662-13-matiosaitis-i-inni-v-litwa-wyrok-europejskiego-522382687(accessed 12 March 2020).