Freedom of assembly and association Archives

Illegal obstruction of the construction site of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Violations of the ECHR

Article 11
06/12/2020 10:25

JUDGMENT
The Religious Denomination of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bulgaria v. Bulgaria 10.11.20 (app. no. 5301/11)
The right of believers of the doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses to freely express their faith and to have their own place of worship. Freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.
The applicant is an organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bulgaria. It decided to build a temple, on her own property. The Mayor, by his decision, suspended the reconstruction works due to violation of urban planning provisions.
A court order was issued allowing the construction to continue, but the Mayor, due to legal action, failed to issue a decision to continue the works, instead publicly denouncing the doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a religion with a negative impact on its believers. The domestic courts did not find the mayor’s refusal to lift the suspension illegal.

The arrest of a protester violated her freedom of assembly because she could not participate in the demonstration. Police duty to protect LGBT community protesters from homophobic attacks

Article 11
01/12/2020 15:55

JUDGMENT
Berkman v. Russia 1.12.2020 (app. no. 46712/15)
The case concerned a public LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) meeting in St Petersburg and the authorities’ failure to protect
participants from aggressive counter-demonstrators.
The Court found in particular that a State did not just have a duty under the Convention not to
interfere with the right to freedom of assembly. For that right to be genuine and effective, the
authorities also had an obligation to facilitate access to meetings and ensure participants’ safety.

The violent arrest of a lawyer-protester by police constituted degrading treatment. ECHR violations due to arrests and overnight detention of protesters

Article 11
20/11/2020 15:43

JUDGMENT
Navalnyy and Gunko v. Russia 10.11.2020 (app. no. 75186/12)
Two protesters were arrested in Bolotnaya Square in Russia in May 2012 during a political demonstration against the government. Their overnight detention in a police station and administrative conviction for violating legal police orders.
One of the protesters, Aleksey Navalnyy, a lawyer and political activist, claimed in his application before the ECtHR that a police officer had used excessive force during his arrest. Both protesters also claimed that their arrest and overnight detention was unjustified and arbitrary, that the administrative proceedings against them were unfair, that the dissolution of the demonstration, their arrest and subsequent conviction were disproportionate and that these violations of their rights were intended to undermine the freedom of assembly.

Administrative dissolution of far-right organizations after a student’s death. Strasbourg welcomes their dissolution

Article 10
08/10/2020 17:47

JUDGMENT Ayoub and others v. France 08.10.2020 (app. no. 77400/14, 34532/15 and 34550/15) see here SUMMARY The cases concerned the administrative dissolution of three extreme right-wing entities: a de facto group (the Troisième Voie association and its security squad) and two associations (L’Oeuvre française and Jeunesses nationalistes). The Court held that the dissolution of the […]

Prosecution and conviction for founding a political party on a religious (Muslim) basis violated its freedom of association

Article 11
05/09/2020 15:18

JUDGMENT Yordanovi v. Bulgaria 03.09.2020 (app. no. 11157/11) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the complaint by the two applicants about criminal proceedings brought against them for attempting to set up a political party on a religious basis. They complained of unjustified interference with their right to freedom of association and also of discrimination against […]

Dissolution of a humanitarian association for alleged propaganda in favor of terrorism. Violation of the freedom of association

Article 11
23/07/2020 06:51

JUDGMENT Adana TAYAD v. Turkey 21.07.2020 (no. 59835/10) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the dissolution of the applicant association, known as Adana TAYAD, ordered by the District Court on the grounds of illegal activities of certain members of the association’s board of directors, while the judgments handed down in the proceedings relating to those […]

The Court agrees not to include the Romanian Communist Party in the list of political parties. Non-violation of its freedom of association

Article 11
24/05/2020 07:34

JUDGMENT Ignatencud and Romanian Communist Party (PCR) v. Romania 05.05.2020 (appl. no. 78635/13) see here SUMMARY Freedom of association. Refusal to register on the list of political parties, a party claiming to be a successor to the communist party that ruled Romania during the totalitarian regime and disbanded in 1989 after the overthrow of power […]

The intervention of the police authorities to deter protesters who created riots for the protection of Parliament did not violate freedom of assembly. This right only protects peaceful gatherings

Article 11
18/01/2020 11:25

JUDGMENT Varoğlu Atik and others v. Turkey 14.01.2020 (no. 76061/14) see here SUMMARY Freedom of assembly and the limits of state intervention. The applicants had planned a peaceful demonstration, obtaining the approval of the police authorities, which they carried out. At the end of the demonstration, some demonstrators used force police against police officers, who […]

The denial of recognition of legal representative to human rights NGOs violated the right of association. Lack of clarity in the legislation and inadequacy of the national courts in its interpretation.

Article 11
28/08/2019 09:59

JUDGMENT Jafarov and others v. Azerbaijan 25.07.2019 (no. 27309/14) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the authorities’ repeated refusal to register a non-governmental organisation set up to defend human rights in Azerbaijan. The authorities’ ultimate reason for the refusal was the NGO founders’ failure to specify the powers of a “legal representative” in their founding […]

State party surveillance in order to detect endeavours hostile to the constitution. Appeals for failure to exhaust domestic remedies are inadmissible.

Article 10
27/08/2019 09:20

JUDGMENT Alternative für Deutschland v. Germany 04.07.2019 (no. 57939/18) see here SUMMARY German party surveillance suspected of hostile endeavours against the Constitution. Non-exhaustion of internal remedies. The case concerned public comments by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution about its suspicion of endeavours hostile to the constitution by the applicant party. The Court found […]

Freedom of assembly and association