ECHR - Homepage of the European Court of Human Rights - ECHR
Forthcoming hearings
The Court will be holding two Grand Chamber hearings on 29 March 2023.
The applicants in the case Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and others v. Switzerland, a Swiss association and its members, complain that the State has failed to introduce suitable legislation and to put appropriate and sufficient measures in place to attain the targets for combating climate change.
The case Carême v. France concerns a complaint by an inhabitant and former mayor of the municipality of Grande-Synthe, who submits that France has taken insufficient steps to prevent climate change and that this failure entails a violation of the right to life and the right to respect for private and family life.
Chamber News
In the case of Telek and Others v. Türkiye the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to respect for private life in respect of the three applicants and a violation of the right to education in respect of the two applicants.
The case concerned the withdrawal of the three academics’ passports in connection with their dismissal from the civil service following the state of emergency declared after the attempted coup d’état in Türkiye in 2016.
The Court found that the cancellation of the three applicants’ passports by acts of the executive, in the context of the state of emergency, had been open to arbitrariness and had not satisfied the requirement of lawfulness. As to the right to education, the Court found that the European Convention imposed an obligation on the member States not to hinder without due justification the exercise of that right in the form of higher education courses in relevant institutions abroad.
In the case of Pagerie v. France the Court held that there had been no violation of the freedom of movement.
The case concerned a series of curfew orders issued in respect of the applicant under the state of emergency declared in France after the attacks of 13 November 2015 and the individual administrative control and monitoring orders to which he was subsequently made subject.
In the case of Valaitis v. Lithuania the Court held that there had been no violation of the right to an effective remedy.
The case concerned an allegation that the Lithuanian authorities had not taken effective measures to protect homosexuals from hate speech following comments published in response to an Internet article referring to a gay finalist in the televised singing competition The Voice.
The Court found that the reopening of the investigation in the case, following the Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania judgment, had demonstrated a clear and positive shift in the State authorities’ attitude towards the prosecution of hate crimes, who had drawn the necessary conclusions from that judgment. The Court did not find that the reopened pre-trial investigation in the applicant’s case had been discontinued or suspended owing to a prejudicial attitude by the authorities.
In the case of Axel Springer SE v. Germany the Court held that there had been no violation of the freedom of expression.
The case concerned a court decision ordering the applicant company to publish a correction to a newspaper article about the executive director of the political party die Linke, and her connection to the former German Democratic Republic’s ruling party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED)).
The Court found that the German Court of Appeal had given due consideration to the principles and criteria laid down by the Court’s case-law for balancing the right to respect for private life and the right to freedom of expression.
Delivered Judgment and Decisions
19/01/2023
17/01/2023
Grand Chamber News
The ECHR has taken further decisions regarding the next procedural steps in the inter-State case Ukraine v. Russia (Crimea) concerning Ukraine’s allegations of a pattern (“administrative practice”) of violations of the European Convention by the Russian Federation in Crimea beginning in February 2014.
After completion of the written procedure, the Court has informed the parties that it would serve the interests of the proper administration of justice that the Court hold a hearing on the admissibility and merits in the case, and has provisionally scheduled this to be held on 8 November 2023.
There are in total 31 third-party interveners in the recently joined case Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia.
This Inter-State case covers complaints concerning the Russian military operations in Ukraine since 24 February 2022 and the conflict in eastern Ukraine involving pro-Russian separatists which began in 2014, including the downing of Flight MH17.
Hearings
The Court will be holding a Grand Chamber hearing in the case of Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye on 18 January 2023.
The case concerns the trial and conviction of the applicant for membership of the FETÖ/PDY. The trial took place in the aftermath of the attempted coup d’état of 15 July 2016.
Decisions
The Court has declared inadmissible the application in the case of Cömert and Others v. Türkiye.
The case concerned the death of the applicants’ relative during a demonstration held to protest against the demolition of Gezi Park in Istanbul.
The Court held that the application was inadmissible for failure to exhaust domestic remedies because several domestic cases concerning the applicants’ complaints remained pending before the national authorities. Nonetheless the Court noted that, should the national proceedings prove so unavailing, on account of their duration or the manner in which they were conducted, as to be rendered ineffective within the meaning of its case-law, and should the decision of the Constitutional Court on the individual application pending before it fall short of meeting the applicants’ concerns, it would be open to them to make a fresh application to the Court.
Other News
On 22 March 2023 President Síofra O’Leary delivered a speech at the 44th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in the Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. She was accompanied by Marialena Tsirli, Registrar of the Court.
On 22 March 2023 a delegation of the Council of the EU Working Party on OSCE and the Council of Europe (COSCE), led by its Chair Ciara O’Brien, paid a visit to the Court and was received by President Síofra O’Leary. The delegation took part in an exchange of views with President O’Leary. Marialena Tsirli, Registrar of the Court, also attended the meeting.