Inappropriate treatment during the detention of a mentally ill person in a prison psychiatric hospital. Violation of Articles 3 and 5 of the ECHR

JUDGMENT Miranda Magro v. Portugal 09.01.2023 (app. no. 30138/21) see here SUMMARY The case concerned Mr Miranda Magro’s preventative detention, which had been ordered by the courts following a finding in 2019 that he was not criminally responsible for a number of alleged offences owing to his mental disorder (having been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia […]

Extraordinary appeal by the Attorney General annuls an irrevocable court decision after 11 years! Conviction for setting up an unlawful court and violation of privacy!

JUDGMENT Lech Wałęsa v. Poland 23.11.2023 (app. no. 50849/21) see here SUMMARY The case concerned a civil suit that Mr Wałęsa had taken against a former friend and associate, Krzysztof Wyszkowski, who had accused him publicly of collaboration with the secret services under the communist regime. Although he had won the case, the final judgment […]

Unnecessary provisional detention, seizure of accounts in violation of the principle of proportionality and unnecessary press releases to inform the public. Conviction for multiple violations of the ECHR

JUDGMENT Narbutas v. Lithuania 19.12.2023 (app. no. 14139/21) see here SUMMARY The case concerned various remand measures applied against Šarūnas Narbutas in the context of a high-profile criminal investigation relating to his involvement in the acquisition by the Lithuanian Government of more than 300,000 covid-19 tests from a Spanish pharmaceutical company in March 2020. At […]

The close professional relationship between judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation and one of the parties constituted a lack of objective impartiality. Breach of the right to due process

JUDGMENT Syndicat National des Journalistes and others v. France 14.12.2023 (app. no. 41236/18) see here SUMMARY The case concerned an alleged violation of the right to a fair hearing by an impartial court, as a result of the involvement of three Court of Cassation judges – who, in the applicants’ submission, had ties with the […]

Non-payment of outstanding wages to a police officer due to his conviction for bribery. Violation of due process

JUDGMENT Korgun v. Ukraine 14.12.2023 (app. no. 68907/14) see here SUMMARY Arrest and conviction of a police officer for bribery. During a disciplinary investigation the police officer was suspended and after his conviction he was placed on permanent leave. From the day of his arrest until the day of his dismissal, he was not paid […]

The President of the Supreme Court testified as a witness for the prosecution. Media reports of conversations of the accused. Lack of impartiality of the judges. No violation of fair trial and of the presumption of innocence

JUDGMENT Tadić v. Croatia 28.11.2023 (app. no. 25551/18) see here SUMMARY The case concerned criminal proceedings in which Mr Tadić had been found guilty of conspiring – through payments of money – to influence the Supreme Court to give a decision favourable to a well-known politician who was being tried for a war crime. The […]

Illegal arrest, detention and conviction of two men on charges of espionage. Violation of personal liberty and due process

JUDGMENT O.J. and J.O. v. Georgia and Russia 19.12.2023 (app. no. 42126/15 and 42127/15) see here SUMMARY Arrest, detention and conviction of two men on charges of espionage in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia – the region of Georgia currently outside the de facto control of the Georgian government. The Court found that while Georgia […]

The ban on strikes by civil servants’ teachers did not take away the core of their freedom of association and did not violate the right of association

JUDGMENT Humpert and others v. Germany 14.12.2023 (app. no. 59433/18 and 3 others) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the disciplinary sanctions imposed on the applicants, teachers with civil-servant status, for having participated, during their working hours, in strikes organised by their trade union in order to protest against worsening working conditions for teachers. The […]

Repeated refusal to register a human rights organisation due to failure to comply with legal formalities . Violation of the right of association

JUDGMENT Mariya Alekhina and others v. Russia 28.11.2023 (no. 2) (app. no. 10299/15) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the Russian authorities’ refusal to register the applicants’ human-rights organisation, “The Zone of Law”, which aimed to provide legal assistance to prisoners. The Court found overall that there had been a lack of detailed guidelines on […]

Constitutional court with an illegitimate composition banned abortion for a woman whose fetus was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Violation of privacy

JUDGMENT M.L. v. Poland 14.12.2023 (app. no. 40119/21) see here SUMMARY The applicant alleged in particular that she had been banned from having access to a legal abortion in the case of foetal abnormalities, following a 2020 Constitutional Court judgment. She had become pregnant and the foetus was diagnosed with trisomy 21. A scheduled hospital […]