The applicant, Mark Charles Stephens, is a British national who was born in 1963 and is currently serving a prison sentence in Malta for drugs offences. In August and November 2004, following a request for extradition by the Maltese authorities, Mr Stephens was arrested in Spain on two occasions on suspicion of having conspired in drug trafficking. In both cases, he relies on Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention. The first case concerns Mr Stephens’s complaint that he was detained in Spain on the basis of an unlawful order issued in Malta and that Malta did not have jurisdiction to try him. He also alleges that he was not able to challenge the lawfulness of his detention on appeal. The second case concerns Mr Stephens’s complaint that the domestic courts did not address the issues raised by his lawyer when challenging the lawfulness of his arrest, and failed to review speedily the lawfulness of his detention.
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)