GUERCHOUH v. THE NETHERLANDS and 1 other application

Published on 8 June 2026   FOURTH SECTION Applications nos. 36723/25 and 37539/25 Ali GUERCHOUH against the Netherlands and Isaac BIGNAN against the Netherlands lodged on 20 November 2025 and 26 November 2025 respectively communicated on 21 May 2026 SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE The applications concern the alleged hindrance of the right of individual application. The applicants are detainees held in the maximum-security institution (Extra Beveiligde Inrichting – “the EBI”) in Vught. On 1 November 2025, Article 40a of the Prisons Act (Penitentiaire beginselenwet) entered into force, limiting the EBI detainees to a maximum of two legal counsels, with the aim of preventing the continuation of criminal activities from detention. Following the entry into force of this provision, the applicants’ requests to have their representative recognised as additional counsel representing them before this Court were refused. The domestic authorities considered that it had not been demonstrated that the applicants’ cases had been declared admissible by the Court and therefore found no obligation to allow such representation. They also found that no exceptional circumstances justified confidential contact with an additional lawyer. Consequently, privileged communication was denied and correspondence with the representative was blocked. The applicants complain under Article 34 of the Convention that the restriction limiting the EBI detainees to a maximum of two legal representatives has a direct and obstructive impact on their ability to submit and pursue an application before the Court. QUESTION TO THE PARTIES In light of the recent introduction of section 40a of the Prisons Act (Penitentiaire beginselenwet), and given that the applicants’ representative is reportedly unable to communicate with them regarding their cases pending before the Court as he is not registered as one of the two legal representatives authorized to access them, has this situation affected the effective exercise of the applicants’ right of individual application, as guaranteed by Article 34 of the Convention (see Zakharkin v. Russia, no. 1555/04, §§ 155-56, 10 June 2010; Mehmet Ali Ayhan and Others v. Turkey, nos. 4536/06 and 53282/07, §§ 37-41 and 43, 4 June 2019; and Shirkhanyan v. Armenia, no. 54547/16, §§ 191-94, 22 February 2022)?