Domestic courts failed to strike a fair balance between the right to privacy and the right of freedom of expression. Violation of Article 8 of the ECHR

JUDGMENT Oleg Balan v. the Republic of Moldova 14.05.2024 (app. no. 25259/20) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the publication of a document by Mr Usatîi, the leader of an opposition party, on his Facebook page, which he claimed had been written by the Moldovan Security and Information Service and addressed to the President. The […]

Denial of adoptee’s access to her adoption file on the grounds that it was confidential, even though the request was for health reasons. Violation of privacy

JUDGMENT Mitrevska v. North Macedonia 14.05.2024 (app. no. 20949/21) see here SUMMARY The case concerned access to information about an adoption. Ms Mitrevska, who had been adopted as a child, wanted to know more about her biological family, including their medical history. The Court acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue at hand and did not […]

Conviction of a journalist for violating the confidentiality of an interrogation for an article on the corruption of politicians. Violation of the right of freedom of expression

JUDGMENT DIAS DOS SANTOS FERREIRA DA COSTA CABRAL v. Portugal 30.04.2024 (app. no. 25282/18) see here SUMMARY The applicant is a journalist working for the daily newspaper Público. That newspaper published an article on a case of high-level corruption, illegal access and abuse of power in which former senior intelligence officers, as well as high-ranking […]

Dismissal of teacher for photos posted on social media discriminated against her on grounds of her sexual orientation

JUDGMENT A.K. v. Russia 07.05.2024 (app. no. 49014/16) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the dismissal of the applicant, a teacher, from her post owing to images of her appearing on social media which the school had found to be “immoral”. The Court found in particular that dismissing the applicant had been grossly disproportionate and […]

Television broadcasting of testimonies and intercepted conversations, taken illegally. Exceeding the limits of responsible journalism. No violation of freedom of expression

JUDGMENT Thomaidis v. Greece 07.05.2024 (app. no. 28345/2016) see here SUMMARY Freedom of expression and limits to the legitimacy of journalism. The applicant journalist, in a television programme concerning the staged football matches, disclosed witness statements from ongoing criminal proceedings and never revealed the source of the illegally intercepted evidence. He was ordered by the […]

Infringement of the right of access to justice due to excessive formalism of national authorities

JUDGMENT Bošnjački v. Serbia 30.04.2024 (app. no. 37630/19) see here SUMMARY Infringement of the applicant’s right of access to a court in the context of proceedings relating to an infringement of the Code. The national courts rejected the applicant’s application for judicial review because he had not signed the fine notice issued by the police. […]

Reopening of proceedings in cases of crimes related to the Holocaust. Violation of privacy and discrimination against surviving victims

JUDGMENT Zăicescu and Fălticineanu v. Romania 23.04.2024 (app. no. 42917/16) see here SUMMARY The case concerned the retrial and acquittal of two army officers in the 1990s who had been convicted in the 1950s of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their involvement in, among other crimes, the persecution of Romanian Jews in 1941, […]

Statute of limitations on claims for cancer death allegedly caused by asbestos exposure violated the right to due process

JUDGMENT Jann-Zwicker and Jann v. Switzerland 13.02.2024 (app. no. 4976/20) see here SUMMARY Death of a relative of the applicants in 2006 from pleural cancer allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos during a period in the 1960s and 1970s. He lived in a house that he had rented from Eternit AG, which was in the […]

Acquittal for smuggling. Decision of an administrative appeal court that the acquitted person committed the offence. Appeal to the ECHR. Subsequently, the CoE overturned the decision and vindicated the applicant. Following this development, no finding of violation of the presumption of innocence

JUDGMENT Venieris v. Greece 18.04.2024 (app. no. 62048/15) see here SUMMARY The applicant was irrevocably acquitted by the criminal court of first instance on the grounds that the facts could not justify the subjective nature of the smuggling. However, by decision of the customs authority, the applicant was fined an administrative fine of EUR 3,885,000 for […]

Extradition of drug trafficking defendants to the US. No violation of their rights

JUDGMENT Matthews and Johnson v. Romania 09.04.2024 (app. no. 19124/21 and 20085/21) and Lazăr v. Romania (app. no. 20183/21) see here SUMMARY The applicants, Murray Matthews, Marc Johnson and Marius Lazăr, are, respectively, a New Zealand, a British and a Romanian national. They were born respectively in 1989, 1966 and 1973. They are members or […]