In the case of F.B. and Others v. the Netherlands the Court held that there had been no violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment.

The case concerned the applicants’ complaints that Dutch legislation and procedures made their life sentences irreducible, both in law and in practice, as life-sentence prisoners have to wait 25 years from the start of police custody or pre-trial detention before they become eligible to take part in any reintegration activities aimed at a return into society. Admission to the reintegration phase is decided by the responsible Minister, assisted by the Life-Sentence Prisoners Advisory Board. After a further three years, the Minister, assisted by the same Board, must take a decision on whether or not to grant pardon. The applicants complained that the Dutch review mechanism did not meet the Convention standards.

Having examined the system of review put in place by the Advisory Board Life-Sentence Prisoners Decree (Besluit Adviescollege levenslanggestraften) in 2017, the Court found that the Dutch authorities had set up and implemented a system for the review of life sentences which enabled the applicants to know what they had to do to be considered for release, and under what conditions a review of the sentences would take place. Having also reviewed the applicants’ individual circumstances, it found that their life sentences could not be considered as irreducible, either in law or in practice.

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