ECHR Decisions Archives

Erdogan portrayed as Bush’s dog in a collage at a public exhibition. Arrest, pre-trial detention and conviction of the artist! Violation of freedom of expression

Article 10
05/02/2021 08:56

JUDGMENT Dickinson v. Turkey 02.02.2021 (app. no. 25200/11) see here SUMMARY Collage exhibition in public places against Erdogan. Freedom of expression, political criticism and proportionality of intervention. The applicant, a British national who has been a professor at Istanbul University for more than 20 years, exhibited in a public event and in a courtroom a […]

Refusal to pay benefits to a pregnant woman on the grounds that she fraudulently found a job since she was in the process of in vitro fertilization! Illegal discrimination on the grounds of sex at work

1st P - Article 1
05/02/2021 08:32

JUDGMENT Jurčić v. Croatia 04.02.2021 (app. no. 54711/15) see here SUMMARY Gender discrimination at work. Refusal of social security to pay legal benefits to the employee – applicant for the period of absence from work while on maternity leave. The domestic authorities considered that the employment contract was a sham and should not look for […]

Ineffective investigation of allegations of child sexual abuse in an orphanage. Violation of the procedural part of Article 3 of the ECHR.

Article 3
04/02/2021 11:16

GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT X and others v. Bulgaria 2.2.2021 (no. 22457/16) see here SUMMARY The case concerned allegations of sexual abuse committed against three children in a Bulgarian orphanage prior to their adoption by an Italian couple in June 2012, the European Court of Human Rights held : – that the applicants, owing to their […]

Inability of a Roma grandmother to exercise her communication rights regarding her granddaughter despite their strong ties, on the grounds that she was coming from a family of criminals! Violation of the right to respect for family life

Article 13
04/02/2021 10:18

JUDGMENT Terna v. Italy 14.01.2021 (no. 21052/18) see here SUMMARY Right of family life of grandmother – granddaughter and ethnic discrimination The applicant is a Roma national. She was assigned custody of her minor granddaughter when the girl’s parents were jailed for serious offenses. With various court proceedings under the supervision of the competent Judge, […]

Ioannis Ktistakis was elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights

ECHR Decisions
27/01/2021 15:21

On January 26, 2021, Mr. Ioannis Ktistakis professor at the Law School of the Democritus University of Thrace and a lawyer, was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as the Greek judge in the European Court of Human Rights, replacing Mr. Linos -Alexandros Sicilianos. The new Greek judge is well known […]

Eviction is the most extreme interference with the right to respect for one’s home! An interesting decision by the Court to expel retired officers

Article 8
23/12/2020 19:47

JUDGMENT
Lushkin and others v. Russia 15.12.2020 (app.no. 29775/14 and 29967/14)
Right to housing, eviction and proportionality of intervention in a democratic society.
The case concerned the eviction of the applicant officers and their spouses from the homes provided to them by the army while they were in the military. After their demobilization, they were called to leave the specific apartments in exchange for the concession of other newly built apartments. Their relocation was postponed without their fault, by decision of the Mayor because the new apartments were built without a planning permission. They filed a complaint for violation of the right to respect for their home, because they did not have accommodation to settle.

Adoption cannot be based primarily on the absence of a relationship between the biological mother and the child. Obligation of the state to take measures for the reunification of the biological family!

Article 8
22/12/2020 18:31

JUDGMENT
M.L. v. Norway 22.12.2020 (app. no. 64639/16)
Inadequacy of a mother to raise her child for psychological reasons. Removal of parental responsibility from the mother. Approval of adoption of her daughter by foster parents, to whom she was placed from the age of 9 days. The domestic authorities based the adoption decision, mainly on the absence of ties between the biological mother and daughter and on her attachment to the foster parents.
According to the ECtHR, although the relationship between the biological mother and daughter was very limited, the placement of the latter in a foster family when she was only 9 days old had left no room for them to develop any real relationship. The ECtHR also pointed out that the applicant’s very limited rights of communication with her daughter (four times a year, for 2 hours at a time) had been decided on the grounds that the parental decision was to be long-term. There was no indication that the domestic authorities had taken any real steps to reconsider the right of communication while the child was in a foster family.

Protection of vulnerable groups from eviction from the Court! An interesting intervention regarding the protection the home

1st P - Article 1
21/12/2020 18:40

JUDGMENT
Béla Németh v. Hungary 17.12.2020 (app. no. 73303/14)
The case concerned the applicant’s not being able to take possession of a property he had bought
owing to a legal moratorium on evictions. State bodies had been exempt from the moratorium. He
had had to wait two years before ultimately being able to exercise his ownership rights.
The Court found that the moratorium had had a basis in law, had served a legitimate interest, and, in
particular, had not deprived him of his legitimate expectation regarding ownership of the property,
merely delayed it.
The Court also found that the applicant’s situation had not been comparable to that of State actors
and as such he had suffered no discrimination

The Court did not acquit a member of the SS who was accused of being involved in 300,000 murders!

Article 6
20/12/2020 09:40

JUDGMENT
Gröning v. Germany 2.11.2020 (app. no. 71591/17)
The case concerned a complaint by a former member of the SS about the length of the criminal
proceedings against him for assisting in murder in the Auschwitz extermination camp.
The applicant was questioned in 1978 while being investigated by the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s
office for crimes committed when serving in the Auschwitz extermination camp. The investigation
was discontinued in 1985. The applicant was questioned again in 2014 after the the Hannover public
prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation and he was convicted in 2015. He argued that the
proceedings had been running since 1978 because the authorities had failed to notify him of the
discontinuation decision in 1985, making the proceedings excessively lengthy.

Inaction of authorities to protect residents from noise coming from a police station. Violation of the right to respect for privacy and residence

Article 8
19/12/2020 14:56

JUDGMENT
Yevgeniy Dmitriyev v. Russia 01.12.2020 (app. no. 17840/06)
Noise protection. Right to respect for privacy and peaceful enjoyment of home.
The applicant appealed to the national courts for harassment from the emission of various noises due to the installation of a police station and detention center in the basement of his apartment building. Prior to appealing to the Court, he had complained in writing to the competent authorities but his complaint was not considered. Although the national courts ruled that the police station should be relocated, the decision was not enforced. He brought an action for violation of the right to privacy and residence.
The Cound that the day-to-day operations of the police department had directly interfered with the applicant’s rights under Article 8 of the Convention, due to excessive noise and insufficient measures 13 years and either were not effective or were not taken at all.

ECHR Decisions