The Journal of Critical Analysis of Judicial Decisions

The Journal of Critical Analysis of Judicial Decisions

Compensation for Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Damages Arising from Eleven Years of Wrongful Imprisonment: An Analytical–Comparative Examination of the Judgments of Branch 20 of the Tehran General Civil Court and Branch 25 of the Tehran Province Court

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Mohammad Hadi Javaherkalam
Assistant Professor of Private Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabataba'i University
10.22034/analysis.2026.2083196.1183
Abstract
An analytical and comparative review of Judgment concerning compensation for damages resulting from eleven years of wrongful imprisonment reveals the commendable efforts of the courts to transcend traditional interpretations and find solutions for compensating both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages suffered by a victim who, due to flaws in the judicial system or a systemic error, spent a long period in prison, only for their innocence to be proven by a subsequent ruling. An analysis of two fundamental challenges in the mentioned judgments indicates that, first, the court's decision to assert jurisdiction over the case, despite not following the formalities stipulated in Article 30 of the Law on the Supervision of Judges' Conduct and the Unifying Judgment No. 791 by the Supreme Court, was substantively correct, even though the judgments lack appropriate reasoning for the court's jurisdictional claim. Secondly, compensation for the pecuniary damage resulting from wrongful imprisonment, based on the "minimum wage of an unskilled worker" and grounded in the fact that the claimant did not allege or prove additional damage, is not entirely inappropriate. However, considering the inadequacy of the declared minimum wage to cover living expenses and its devaluation over time, it would have been preferable for the court to employ other criteria for full compensation. In contrast, French jurisprudence readily awards compensation for loss of income and wages, loss of real opportunities for earning, employment, and economic prospects, as well as ancillary costs. Furthermore, setting a daily compensation of 250,000 IRR for each day of wrongful imprisonment according to Article 529 of the Criminal Procedure Code and treating it as pecuniary damage is open to criticism. On the other hand, the court's introduction of the concept of “spiritual death” represents a significant step toward comprehensive damage compensation. However, it would have been more appropriate to set a full diya (blood money) solely for the psychological damage caused by the experience of facing execution, while for the 11 years of imprisonment, considering factors such as the length of detention, the victim's age, the presence or absence of a prior criminal record, prison conditions, the impact of detention on personal and family reputation and dignity—criteria also employed in French law—would have justified a higher compensation. Additionally, the judgment lacks a ruling for the non-pecuniary compensation of moral damages, such as the obligation to apologize to the victim or to publish the ruling in websites and newspapers.
Keywords
judicial fault
systemic error
wrongful (unlawful) imprisonment
pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages
jurisdiction
spiritual death
state civil liability
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