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4. Whereas Article 17 (art. 17) of the Convention provides as
follows:

"Nothing in this Convention may be interpreted as implying for any
State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform
any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set
forth herein or at their limitation to a greater extent than is
provided for in the Convention".

5. Whereas the Irish Government submitted to the Commission and
reaffirmed before the Court (i) that G.R. Lawless, at the time of his
arrest in July 1957, was engaged in IRA activities; (ii) that the
Commission, in paragraph 138 of its Report, had already observed that
his conduct was "such as to draw upon the Applicant the gravest suspicion
that, whether or not he was any longer a member, he was still concerned
with the activities of the IRA at the time of his arrest in July 1957";
(iii) that the IRA was banned on account of its activity aimed
at the destruction of the rights and freedoms set forth in the
Convention; that, in July 1957, G.R. Lawless was thus concerned in
activities falling within the terms of Article 17 (art. 17) of the
Convention; that he therefore no longer had a right to rely on
Articles 5, 6, 7 (art. 5, art. 6, art. 7) or any other Article of the
Convention; that no State, group or person engaged in activities
falling within the terms of Article 17 (art. 17) of the Convention may
rely on any of the provisions of the Convention; that this
construction was supported by the Commission's decision on the
admissibility of the Application submitted to it in 1957 by the German
Communist Party; that, however, where Article 17 (art. 17) is applied,
a Government is not released from its obligation towards other
Contracting Parties to ensure that its conduct continues to comply
with the provisions of the Convention;

6. Whereas the Commission, in the Report and in the course of the
written pleadings and oral hearings before the Court, expressed the
view that Article 17 (art. 17) is not applicable in the present case;
whereas the submissions of the Commission on this point may be
summarised as follows: that the general purpose of Article 17
(art. 17) is to prevent totalitarian groups from exploiting in their
own interest the principles enunciated by the Convention; but that to
achieve that purpose it is not necessary to take away every one of the
rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Convention from persons found to
be engaged in activities aimed at the destruction of any of those
rights and freedoms; that Article 17 (art. 17) covers essentially
those rights which, if invoked, would facilitate the attempt to derive
therefrom a right to engage personally in activities aimed at the
destruction of "any of the rights and freedoms set forth in the
Convention"; that the decision on the admissibility of the Application
submitted by the German Communist Party (Application No. 250/57) was
perfectly consistent with this construction of Article 17 (art. 17);
that there could be no question, in connection with that Application,
of the rights set forth in Articles 9, 10 and 11 (art. 9, art. 10,
art. 11) of the Convention, since those rights, if extended to the
Communist Party, would have enabled it to engage in the very
activities referred to in Article 17 (art. 17);

Whereas, in the present case, the Commission was of the opinion that,
even if G. R. Lawless was personally engaged in IRA activities at the
time of his arrest, Article 17 (art. 17) did not preclude him from
claiming the protection of Articles 5 and 6 (art. 5, art. 6) of the
Convention nor absolve the Irish Government from observing the
provisions of those Articles, which protect every person against
arbitrary arrest and detention without trial;

7. Whereas in the opinion of the Court the purpose of Article 17
(art. 17), insofar as it refers to groups or to individuals, is to
make it impossible for them to derive from the Convention a right to
engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at destroying any of
the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention; whereas,
therefore, no person may be able to take advantage of the provisions
of the Convention to perform acts aimed at destroying the aforesaid
rights and freedoms; whereas this provision which is negative in scope
cannot be construed a contrario as depriving a physical person of the
fundamental individual rights guaranteed by Articles 5 and 6 (art. 5,
art. 6) of the Convention; whereas, in the present instance
G.R. Lawless has not relied on the Convention in order to justify or
perform acts contrary to the rights and freedoms recognised therein
but has complained of having been deprived of the guarantees granted
in Articles 5 and 6 (art. 5, art. 6) of the Convention; whereas,
accordingly, the Court cannot, on this ground, accept the submissions
of the Irish Government.

As to whether the detention of G.R. Lawless without trial from
13th July to 11th December 1957 under Section 4 of the Offences
against the State (Amendment) Act 1940, conflicted with the Irish
Government's obligations under Articles 5 and 6 (art. 5, art. 6)
of the Convention.

8. Whereas Article 5 (art. 5) of the Convention reads as follows:

"(1) Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.
No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases
and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:

(a) the lawful detention of a person after conviction by a competent
court;

(b) the lawful arrest or detention of a person for non-compliance
with the lawful order of a court or in order to secure the
fulfilment of any obligation prescribed by law;

(c) the lawful arrest or detention of a person effected for the
purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority
on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offence or when it
is reasonably considered necessary to prevent his committing an
offence or fleeing after having done so;

(d) the detention of a minor by lawful order for the purpose of
educational supervision of his lawful detention for the purpose
of bringing him before the competent legal authority;

(e) the lawful detention of persons for the prevention of the
spreading of infectious diseases, of persons of unsound mind,
alcoholics or drug addicts or vagrants;

(f) the lawful arrest or detention of a person to prevent his
effecting an unauthorised entry into the country or of a person
against whom action is being taken with a view to deportation
or extradition.

(2) Everyone who is arrested shall be informed promptly, in a language
which he understands, of the reasons for his arrest and of any charge
against him.
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