Composition of the Court

Election of Judges


The judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from lists of three candidates proposed by each State. They are elected for a non-renewable term of nine years.

Although judges are elected in respect of a State, they hear cases as individuals and do not represent that State. They are totally independent and cannot engage in any activity that would be incompatible with their duty of independence and impartiality.

Read more about the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights.
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Judges of the Court


In order of precedence as at 03/07/2023

Ireland
President
Luxembourg
Vice-President
Slovenia
Vice-President
Austria
Section President
Andorra
Section President
Norway
Section President
Poland
Judge
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Judge
Lithuania
Judge
Serbia
Judge
Bulgaria
Judge
Liechtenstein
Judge
Latvia
Judge
Armenia
Judge
Slovak Republic
Judge
Finland
Judge
Cyprus
Judge
United Kingdom
Judge
Azerbaijan
Judge
North Macedonia
Judge
Netherlands
Judge
Hungary
Judge
Georgia
Judge
Spain
Judge
Montenegro
Judge
San Marino
Judge
Albania
Judge
Sweden
Judge
Italy
Judge
Türkiye
Judge
Germany
Judge
Estonia
Judge
Portugal
Judge
France
Judge
Greece
Judge
Switzerland
Judge
Belgium
Judge
Republic of Moldova
Judge
Czech Republic
Judge
Croatia
Judge
Ukraine
Judge
Denmark
Judge
Romania
Judge
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Judges of the Court since 1959


This list includes all national judges of the Court since 1959, by countries, including the judges currently appointed.

 List of judges of the Court since 1959

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Ad hoc Judges


When the national judge does not sit in the case because of inability, withdrawal or exemption, an ad hoc judge is appointed by the President of the Court from a list submitted in advance by the government concerned.

 List of ad hoc judges

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Single Judges


Manifestly inadmissible applications are examined by a single judge formation.

 List of Single Judges

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Election of the Registrar and Deputy Registrars


The plenary Court shall elect the Registrar and one or more Deputy Registrars.

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Sections


A Section is an administrative entity and a Chamber is a judicial formation of the Court within a given Section. The Court has 5 Sections in which Chambers and Committees are formed (Rule 25 of the Rules of Court). Each Section has a President, a Vice-President and a number of other judges. The composition of the Sections is geographically and gender balanced, to the extent possible, and reflects the different legal systems among the Contracting Parties (Rule 25 § 2).
The overview below provides a list of judges by Section, as well as the complete lists of various Chamber and Committee formations operating within each Section.

Last updated : 01/03/2024

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Section I

President

Marko Bošnjak

Vice-President

Alena Poláčková*

Krzysztof Wojtyczek
Lәtif Hüseynov
Péter Paczolay
Ivana Jelić
Gilberto Felici
Erik Wennerström
Raffaele Sabato

Registrar

Ilse Freiwirth

Deputy Registrar

Liv Tigerstedt

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Section II

President

Arnfinn Bårdsen

Vice-President

Jovan Ilievski*

Egidius Kūris
Pauliine Koskelo
Saadet Yüksel
Lorraine Schembri Orland
Frédéric Krenc
Diana Sârcu
Davor Derenčinović

Registrar

Hasan Bakırcı

Deputy Registrar

Dorothee von Arnim 

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Section III

President

Pere Pastor Vilanova

Vice-President

Jolien Schukking*

Yonko Grozev
Georgios Serghides
Darian Pavli
Peeter Roosma
Ioannis Ktistakis
Andreas Zünd
Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir

Registrar

Milan Blasko

Deputy Registrar

Olga Chernishova

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Section IV

President

Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer

Vice-President

Tim Eicke*

Faris Vehabović
Branko Lubarda
Armen Harutyunyan
Anja Seibert-Fohr
Ana Maria Guerra Martins
Anne Louise Bormann
Sebastian Rădulețu

Registrar

Andrea Tamietti

Deputy Registrar

Simeon Petrovski

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Section V

President

Georges Ravarani

Vice-President

Lado Chanturia*

Síofra O’Leary
Carlo Ranzoni
Mārtiņš Mits
Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström
María Elósegui
Mattias Guyomar
Kateřina Šimáčková
Mykola Gnatovskyy

Registrar

Victor Soloveytchik

Deputy Registrar

Martina Keller

* Duty judge in charge of interim measures

Grand Chamber


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Composition of the Grand  Chamber

The Grand Chamber is made up of 17 judges: the Court’s President and Vice-Presidents, the Section Presidents and the national judge, together with other judges selected by drawing of lots.

 The Grand Chamber in brief

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Practice of the Grand Chamber Panel

This document describes the general practice followed by the Panel of the Grand Chamber when deciding on requests for referral in accordance with Article 43 of the Convention. It includes statistics, an explanation of Article 43 of the Convention and examples of case-law.

 English

 Italian* (translation commissioned by the Italian Government)

 Turkish*

*The translations into non-official languages come from various sources. Only the English and French versions are authentic.