The applicants are two Dutch nationals who were born in 1950 and live in the Netherlands. Jeroen Buijen lives in Amsterdam and Hendrik Smith lives in Groningen. Both applicants were convicted in 2002 by the Regional Court in Lübeck, Germany, of unlawful trafficking in narcotic substances and were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment. Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right of access to a court), both applicants complained about the German authorities’ refusal to institute in their cases proceedings to send them to the Netherlands, contrary to earlier assurances given by the Public Prosecutor, and about not having been able to challenge the judgments given by the Lübeck Regional Court as they had waived their right to appeal in view of the assurance given.
(citation from the official press-release prepared by the European Court of Human Rights)