In the case of G.K. v. Belgium, the Court has found a violation of the right to free elections.

The applicant had submitted that she had been coerced into resigning as a senator, but had then attempted to retract her resignation. Meanwhile, however, she had been deprived of her seat, as the Senate had officially accepted her resignation and validated her successor’s credentials.

The Court found that the applicant’s resignation had been accepted by the Senate in the absence of any procedural safeguards against arbitrariness, which had infringed the very essence of her rights as secured under the Convention.

Press release

In the case of Halabi v. France, the Court has found a violation of the right to respect for private and family life. It held that a home visit conducted by officials from the town planning department to check whether completed building work corresponded to the building permit and the prior declaration of work ought to have taken place with the occupier’s consent or judicial authorisation.

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In the case of Tasev v. North Macedonia the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to respect for private and family life. The applicant complained about the authorities’ refusal to change his ethnicity in the electoral roll, as that refusal had violated his right to an ethnic identity.

Press release

In the case of Lambert and Others v. France, the Court has decided to reject the request for interim measures submitted on 20 May 2019 by Vincent Lambert’s father, mother, half-brother and sister.

Vincent Lambert’s relatives asked the Court to indicate to the French State the immediate application of the interim measures demanded of France by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) on 3 May 2019.

Vincent Lambert, who was left tetraplegic after a road accident in 2008, is in a condition described as vegetative.

Press release

The Court has decided to apply an urgent measure in the case P.H. and Others v. Italy concerning three Bosnian citizens of Roma ethnicity who were evicted with their minor children from a settlement in Ponte Riccio in April of this year.

The Court asked the Italian Government to provide temporary accommodation for the minors involved and their parents, without separating them.

President Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos and the Registrar of the Court, Roderick Liddell, attended the annual meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe in Helsinki on 16 and 17 May 2019.

A Declaration was adopted at the end of the meeting.

To mark the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Court has produced a new publication: The ECHR and France in Facts and Figures. It is part of a series which provides a global overview of the Court’s work and the extent to which its judgments have an impact in each member State.

ECHR and France

Facts and Figures by State

The Court held a Grand Chamber hearing in the case of S.M. v. Croatia on 15 May 2019.

The applicant, a Croatian national, complained that she had been forced to prostitute herself for several months.

She alleged that the authorities had failed to respond appropriately to her complaint and submitted that there was no legal framework in Croatia for dealing with the issues raised by her case.

Press release Webcast of the hearing

The ECHR and Croatia in facts and figures  

Country profile - Croatia

On 6 May 2019 the Court accepted the referral to the Grand Chamber of the case of Gestur Jónsson and Ragnar Halldór Hall v. Iceland. The Court also decided to reject requests to refer 10 other cases.

Press release

Cases pending before the Grand Chamber