Chamber hearing concerning Poland
27/09/2022
The Court held a Chamber hearing in the case of Pietrzak v. Poland and Bychawska-Siniarska and Others v. Poland.
The case concerns the compatibility of the national legislation authorising secret surveillance by the police and intelligence services in respect of communications, and data collection about those communications (“metadata”), regarding the right to respect for private and family life and the right to an effective remedy.
Due to the interruption of the international postal services to and from the Russian Federation and where the only means of delivery of the Court’s decisions and judgments to the applicants is by post, the Court has exceptionally decided to notify the applicants about decisions and judgments adopted by its Chamber and Committee judicial formations after 1 March 2022 in respect of applications against the Russian Federation only via its HUDOC database.
As announced in the Court’s press release of 29 August 2022, as from 1 September 2022 the Court has returned in some aspects to the normal processing of applications involving Ukraine. Due to the interruption of the international postal services to and from Ukraine, the Court will communicate with applicants via its electronic communication system, eComms. For that purpose, the Court will use the email address provided by the applicants. Regarding specifically the notification of decisions and judgments, where no email address has been provided the Court has exceptionally decided to notify the applicants about decisions and judgments adopted by its Chamber and Committee judicial formations only via its HUDOC database. Decisions adopted by the Single Judge will be notified only to those applicants who have provided an email address. Prior to contacting the Court about the state of the proceedings in a case, applicants are encouraged to consult the Court’s State of Proceedings search tool for further information.
Chamber
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Judgment concerning Azerbaijan
06/10/2022
In the case of Mustafa Hajili and Others v. Azerbaijan the Court held that there had been a violation of the freedom of assembly.
The case concerned the authorities’ refusal to authorise three public demonstrations in Baku. The applicants had planned the demonstrations in 2012 to protest against and make demands about various political matters. This is the first case finding a violation against Azerbaijan because of refusal to authorise public demonstrations.
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Judgment concerning Poland
06/10/2022In the case of Juszczyszyn v. Poland the Court found a violation of, among other rights, the rights to a fair trial, and to respect for private and family life.
The case concerned the Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court’s disciplinary measures against a judge who had issued a court order for information on appointments of judges via the controversial “new” National Council of the Judiciary.
The Court found that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court was not an “independent and impartial tribunal established by law”, and that the applicant’s suspension had been for the purposes of discouraging him from examining the appointment procedure for judges, in violation of his rights.
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Judgment concerning Belgium
04/10/2022
In the case of Mortier v. Belgium the Court found a violation of the right to life.
The case concerned the death by euthanasia of the applicant’s mother, without the applicant or his sister having been informed. The applicant’s mother had not wished to inform her children of her euthanasia request in spite of the repeated advice from the doctors.
The ECHR explained that the case was not about whether there was a right to euthanasia, but about compatibility with the Convention of the act of euthanasia performed in the case of the applicant’s mother.
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Judgment concerning Albania
04/10/2022
In the case of Besnik Cani v. Albania the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to a fair trial.
The case concerned a former prosecutor who was dismissed in 2020 as part of an exceptional process for the re-evaluation of all serving judges and prosecutors – known as vetting proceedings – following a reform of the justice system in Albania, and his doubts about one of the judges appointed to hear his case. The ECHR held that the most appropriate redress for the violation of the applicant’s rights would be to reopen the case and re-examine it. The finding of a violation could not, however, in itself be taken to require the reopening of all similar cases that have in the meantime become res judicata under domestic law.
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Judgment concerning the Netherlands
04/10/2022In the case of De Legé v. the Netherlands, the Court found that there had been no violation of the right to a fair trial.
The case concerned tax fines imposed on the applicant, a Dutch national, following his failure to comply with his legal obligation to provide information relating to a bank account he held in Luxembourg.
The Court found that the use of the bank statements and portfolio summaries concerning the applicant’s foreign bank account that had been obtained from him by a judicial order did not fall within the scope of the protection of the privilege against self-incrimination. It could not be said that, due to the use of those documents, the applicant had been deprived of a fair trial.
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Grand Chamber
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Forthcoming delivery
05/10/2022
The Court will be delivering a Grand Chamber ruling in the case of Beeler v. Switzerland on 11 October 2022.
In this case the applicant complained about the termination of the widow's pension he was receiving, as the Federal Law on Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance provides that entitlement to a widower’s pension ends when the youngest child reaches the age of 18, whereas this is not the case for a widow.
Webcast of the hearing (16/06/2021)
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Referral requests
03/10/2022On 10 October 2022 a panel of 5 judges will examine eleven Grand Chamber referral requests.
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Official Visits
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Visit by the European Commissioner for Justice
05/10/2022
On 4 October 2022, Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, visited the Court and was received by President Robert Spano. Síofra O’Leary, President-elect of the Court and judge elected in respect of Ireland, Marialena Tsirli, Registrar of the Court, and Abel Campos, Deputy Registrar of the Court, also attended the meeting.
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Visit by a delegation from the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights
03/10/2022
On 29 and 30 September 2022, a delegation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, headed by its President, Imani Daud Aboud, visited the Court and was received by Jon Fridrik Kjølbro, Vice-President of the Court and judge elected in respect of Denmark, and Síofra O’Leary, President-elect of the Court and judge elected in respect of Ireland. The visiting Judges took part in roundtable discussions with a number of Judges of the Court as well as members of the Registry including Marialena Tsirli, Registrar of the Court, and Abel Campos, Deputy Registrar of the Court.
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Decisions
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Inadmissibility decision concerning France
06/10/2022
The Court has declared inadmissible the application in the case of Thevenon v. France.
The case concerned a firefighter’s refusal to comply with the COVID-19 vaccination requirement imposed on workers in certain occupations by the Public Health Emergency Act (Law no. 2021-1040 of 5 August 2021). When the applicant refused vaccination without claiming a medical exemption under the statute, he was suspended from both his professional and volunteer duties.
The Court rejected the application as inadmissible for failure by the applicant to exhaust his domestic remedies before applying.
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Hearings
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Forthcoming hearing
05/10/2022
The Court will be holding a Chamber hearing in the case of Pagerie v. France on 18 October 2022.
The case concerns 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.
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Interim Measures
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Rule 39 Site platform
03/10/2022The Court has launched the Rule 39 Site, a new secure platform that will allow applicants to submit requests for interim measures and the Court to correspond with them.
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Delivered Judgments & Decisions
Forthcoming Judgments & Decisions
11-13/10/2022