The European Court of Human Rights has given a judgment in the case Sociedade de Construções Martins & Vieira, Lda. and Others v Portugal.
The Court holds that there has been a violation of Articles 6 § 1 and 13 of the Convention. The applicants in this case are Sociedade de Construções Martins & Vieira, Lda, a Portuguese limited liability company, and its managing partners, Maria do Céu da Costa Vieira and João Martins Gonçalves Costa, two Portuguese nationals, who were born in 1943 and 1948 and live in Carvalhal and Barcelos (Portugal) respectively. In December 1999 the applicants were made defendants in two sets of proceedings on charges of tax fraud. Both sets of proceedings are currently still pending, having already lasted 14 years and nine months at one level of jurisdiction. These fiscal criminal proceedings were notably suspended in November 2006 and April 2007, respectively, pending the outcome of parallel proceedings brought by the applicants for judicial review of the tax adjustment of the applicant company's fiscal activity between 1994 and 1997. Relying in particular on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial within a reasonable time) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), the applicants complained about the excessive length of the fiscal criminal proceedings against them.
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