In the case of Laurent v. France the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to respect for private life and correspondence.

The case concerned the interception by a police officer of papers that the applicant, a lawyer, had handed over to his clients, who were under police escort, in the lobby of a court building.

The Court specified that a folded sheet of paper on which a lawyer has written a message before handing it over to his clients was protected correspondence within the meaning of the Convention. It emphasised that the content of the documents intercepted by the police officer was immaterial given that, whatever its purpose, correspondence between lawyers and their clients concerned matters of a private and confidential character.

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In the case of Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine concerning a ban on the sale of farmland in Ukraine, the Court found a violation of the right to protection of property.

The Court noted that after the collapse of the Soviet Union Ukraine had mostly distributed farm land to people who had previously worked on collective farms, but had introduced, supposedly on a temporary basis, a ban on the sale of such land. No other Council of Europe State had such a blanket ban. The Court concluded that Ukraine should take the appropriate action to strike a fair balance between farmland owners and the general interests of the community.

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In the case of Jureša v. Croatia the Court found no violation of the Convention.

The applicant complained of the dismissal of her appeal on points of law by the Supreme Court on the grounds that the value of the dispute had not reached the necessary legal threshold.

The Court noted that the decision given by the Supreme Court in the applicant’s case had amounted to a reversal of case-law. It considered that such changes in case-law, involving the interpretation and application of legislation, were within the discretion of domestic courts, in the absence of arbitrariness and where not manifestly unreasonable. That had been the situation in Ms Jureša’s case.

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The Court has declared the application inadmissible in the case of Roj TV A/S v. Denmark. The applicant company, a Danish television channel, had complained that it had been fined and had its broadcasting license withdrawn on the grounds of its support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The Court noted that between 2006 and 2010, Roj TV had been largely financed by the PKK and that its programmes had stirred up violence and hatred and supported terrorist activities. It found that the applicant company had attempted to deflect Article 10 (freedom of expression) from its real purpose by employing that right for ends which were contrary to the values of the Convention.

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On 24 May 2018, Victoria Iftodi, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, visited the Court and was received by President Guido Raimondi. Valeriu Griţco, judge elected in respect of the Republic of Moldova, and Roderick Liddell, Registrar, also attended the meeting.

On 28 May 2018, a panel of five judges will examine 16 Grand Chamber referral requests.

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To mark the Croatian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Court has produced a new publication: The ECHR and Croatia in Facts and Figures. This is the 3^rd document in a series (the previous versions focused on the Czech Republic and Denmark) providing a global overview of the Court’s work and the extent to which its judgments have an impact in each member State.

The ECHR and Croatia - Facts and figures 

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