y the States of the engagements undertaken by them as Contracting Parties" (see Ireland v. the United Kingdom, cited above, p. 62, § 154, and Guzzardi v. Italy, judgment of 6 November 1980, Series A No. 39, p. 31, § 86). Although the primary purpose of the Convention system is to provide individual relief, its mission is also to determine issues on public-policy grounds in the common interest, thereby raising the general standards of protection of human rights and extending human rights jurisprudence throughout the community of Convention States" <*>.
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<*> Karner v. Austria, No. 40016/98, § 26, ECHR 2003-IX.
4. In the present case, the Court could have taken a decision to determine issues on public-policy grounds in the common interest, thereby raising the general standards of protection of human rights and extending human rights jurisprudence throughout the community of Convention States. After all, a panel of five judges of the Grand Chamber accepted the referral of the case, taking the view that it met the criteria set out in Article 43 of the Convention. According to this provision, only an "exceptional case" raising "a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention... or a serious issue of general importance" can be re-examined. Based on the fact that it was referred to the Grand Chamber, I think there is a strong presumption in favour of considering the case as one which required the Court to continue the examination of the application, notwithstanding the fact that the applicant died in the meantime.
5. Nor do I believe that the Court would have been in any way hampered in its further consideration of the case by the death of the applicant and his lawyer. The case had been fully argued by the parties in both written and oral submissions before the Grand Chamber and was ready for determination.
6. In the Chamber judgment of 11 April 2006, the Court found no violations of Article 5 § 1 (a) and Article 3 of the Convention.
7. By re-examining the case, the Grand Chamber would have had the opportunity to elaborate under Article 5 on the difficult question of the "lawfulness" of the applicant's continued detention after more than four decades of incarceration, in particular taking into account the important aspect of reintegration into the community. This distinguishes the present case from the case of Kafkaris <*>, referred to in paragraph 51 of the majority judgment. In addition, in Kafkaris, the problem examined under Article 5 § 1 (a) mainly concerned the potential impact of the notice issued by the prison authorities, on the basis of the Prison Regulations in force at the time, setting a conditional release date.
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<*> Kafkaris v. Cyprus [GC], No. 21906/04, ECHR 2008-...
8. Moreover, the Court has never had the opportunity to rule on the difficult question of principle as to whether irreducible life sentences are, as such, incompatible with Article 3. In the case of adults, the Court has not ruled out the possibility that in special circumstances an irreducible life sentence might also raise an issue under the Convention where there is no hope of entitlement to a measure such as parole <*>. In this context, I would recall that the German Federal Constitutional Court decided, as far back as 1977, that an irreducible life sentence, if there was no hope of early release, would violate the principle of human dignity as enshrined in Article 1 of the German Basic Law, and the constitutional principle of proportionality <**>.
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<*> Kafkaris, cited above, § 97; see also Nivette c. France (dec.), No. 44190/98, ECHR 2001-VII; Einhorn v. France (dec.), No. 71555/01, ECHR 2001-XI; Sawoniuk v. the United Kingdom (dec.), No. 63716/00, ECHR 2001-VI; Partington v. the United Kin
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