Opening of the judicial year 2023
27/01/2023
The official opening of the judicial year of the ECHR took place on 27 January 2023. The event included a seminar on the topic Judges preserving democracy through the protection of human rights, at which many eminent figures from European judicial circles were present.
This was followed by the ceremony to mark the official opening of the judicial year 2023. Síofra O’Leary, President of the Court, and Silvana Sciarra, President of the Constitutional Court of Italy, addressed representatives from the highest courts of the 46 member States of the Council of Europe and from local, national and international authorities.
Speech by President Síofra O’Leary
Video of the Seminar: Original language - English - French
Video of the solemn hearing: Original language - English
Press Conference 2023
26/01/2023
President Síofra O’Leary held a press conference that was streamed live on Internet.
The President of the Court gave an overview of the Court’s activities in 2022 and presented the statistics for the past year. Accompanied by Marialena Tsirli, Registrar, she then took questions from journalists.
Webcast of the Press conference:
Speech by President O’Leary (in French only)
Annual Report 2022 Analysis of Statistics 2022
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 the Russian Federation
07/02/2023In the case of B v. Russia the Court held that there had been a violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment.
The case concerned the participation of the applicant, who revealed in 2019 that she had been subjected to sexual abuse between the ages of 7-10, in the ensuing investigation and trial in the criminal proceedings against her alleged abusers. She complained that her repeated interviews and direct contact with her alleged abusers during the proceedings had caused her severe stress and mental hardship, leading to serious psychological disorders, and resulting in her re-traumatisation.
The Court found that the Russian authorities had displayed utter disregard for her suffering and had failed to protect her personal integrity in the course of the criminal proceedings, which had led to her secondary victimisation.
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Judgment concerning Türkiye
07/02/2023
In the case of Elvan v. Türkiye the Court held that there had been a violation of the procedural aspect of the right to life.
The applicants in this case are the parents and the sisters of the 15-year-old boy who died following a wound sustained by a grenade launcher during the “Gezi events” in Istanbul.
The Court found that there had been a failure on the part of the Turkish authorities to fulfil their procedural obligation to conduct an effective investigation into any part that Istanbul’s law-enforcement director and/or governor might have played in relation to the death of the applicants’ son and brother.
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Grand Chamber
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Forthcoming delivery
07/02/2023
The Court will be delivering a Grand Chamber ruling in the case of Halet v. Luxembourg on 14 February 2023.
In this case the applicant, who worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), complains before the ECHR about his conviction for disclosing tax documents concerning his employers’ clients to a journalist.
Webcast of the hearing (02/02/2022)
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Grand Chamber procedural meeting in climate cases
03/02/2023On 11 January 2023 the Grand Chamber held a procedural meeting in the three climate cases pending before it: Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, Carême v. France and Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others.
At the meeting, it was decided that, after the completion of the written stage of the proceedings, the oral stage in the cases would be staggered. A hearing in the cases Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland and Carême v. France will be held on 29 March 2023.
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Referral requests
30/01/2023On 30 January 2023, the Grand Chamber panel of five judges decided to reject all 14 requests for referral to the Grand Chamber.
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Other Information
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Future processing of applications against the Russian Federation
03/02/2023
The ECHR has decided over the past months several cases which set out some guiding procedural principles for dealing with cases against the Russian Federation which fall within its jurisdiction.
These rulings explain that the ECHR is competent to deal with cases concerning acts or omissions which took place before the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the European Convention. The ECHR will appoint an ad hoc judge from among the sitting judges to examine those cases lodged against the Russian Federation within its jurisdiction and it may proceed with examination of the applications where the Russian authorities do not cooperate with it.
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