Published on 2 February 2026
 
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 14405/24
Daniel PRZYBYSZ
against Poland
lodged on 9 May 2024
communicated on 13 January 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the applicant’s life sentence and the 2022 legislative amendment, which increased to 30 years the minimum period to be served before eligibility for conditional release.
The applicant is serving a sentence of life imprisonment imposed by a final judgment given in 2019. At the time of sentencing, a person sentenced to life imprisonment could apply for early conditional release after serving 25 years.
Following the legislative reform introduced by the Act of 7 July 2022 amending the Criminal Code and certain other statutes (ustawa z dnia 7 lipca 2022 roku o zmianie kodeksu karnego oraz niektórych innych ustaw; entered into force on 1 October 2023), the minimum period before which a life prisoner may apply for conditional release was extended to 30 years.
In 2024, in response to a letter from the applicant, the penitentiary court informed him that this amendment applied to his case.
The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that this legislative change, applied during the execution of his sentence, deprives him of a genuine prospect of release within a reasonable time.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has the applicant been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, on account of the fact that he will not be eligible for early conditional release before serving 30 years of his life sentence (see Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 66069/09, 130/10 and 3896/10, § 120, ECHR 2013 (extracts), Bancsók and László Magyar v. Hungary (no. 2), nos. 52374/15 and 53364/15, §§ 39‑48, 28 October 2021; and Horváth and Others v. Hungary [Committee], nos. 12143/16 and 11 others, §§ 15-17, 2 March 2023)?