In the case of Ibrahimov and Mammadov v. Azerbaijan, the Court has found several violations of the Convention. It held that the events in the applicants’ case corresponded to a pattern it had already identified in previous cases concerning the arbitrary arrest and detention of government critics, civil-society activists and human-rights defenders, who had been subjected to retaliatory prosecutions and misuse of the criminal law.

The applicants, both members of the NIDA movement, an opposition-oriented organisation, were arrested in May 2016 after painting political graffiti on a statue of the former president of Azerbaijan. Arrested and prosecuted for drug trafficking, they were subjected to ill-treatment by the police. In particular, the Court found that there had not been sufficient reasonable suspicion to justify their arrest, which, together with their continued pre-trial detention, had been arbitrary.

Press release Country profile - Azerbaijan

In the case of Sanofi Pasteur v. France, the Court has found a violation of the right to a fair hearing on account of the failure to provide reasons for the decision to refuse the applicant company’s request to have questions referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling.

The case concerned the company Sanofi Pasteur’s liability to an individual, a trainee nurse who was vaccinated against hepatitis B and subsequently contracted various illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, and the court order against the applicant company to pay damages.

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In the case of Gaughran v. the United Kingdom the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to respect for private life. 

The case concerned a complaint about the indefinite retention of personal data (DNA profile, fingerprints and photograph) of the applicant who had a spent conviction for driving with excess alcohol in Northern Ireland.

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In the case of Buturugă v. Romania, the Court has found a violation of the prohibition of inhuman or
degrading treatment and of the right to respect for correspondence, on account of the domestic violence experienced by the applicant and the breach of the secrecy of electronic correspondence by her former husband.

The Court pointed out that cyberbullying was currently recognised as an aspect of violence against women and girls, and that it could take on a variety of forms, including cyber breaches of privacy, intrusion into the victim’s computer and the capture, sharing and manipulation of data and images, including private data.

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The Court has found a violation of the right to life in the case of Vovk and Bogdanov v. Russia, on account of the failure to carry out an effective investigation into the explosion of a grenade in a residential district of Chita in 2008.

The applicants, who were 13 and 7 years old at the relevant time, had been seriously injured when a grenade fell on the ground and exploded while they were handling it. Their civil claim for compensation was rejected, as the Russian courts relied on the results of the criminal investigation finding that there was no evidence the grenade had belonged to the State or that it had not been properly guarded.

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In the case of Özer v. Turkey (no. 3), the Court has found a violation of the right to freedom of expression.

The applicant, the owner and editor of the magazine Yeni Dünya İçin Çağrı, had been convicted of the criminal offence of publishing propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation following the publication in 2007 of an article entitled “The Kurdish question: seeking a solution and our obligations”. 

The Court reiterated its case-law concerning the offence of propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation, and noted that the Turkish courts had not taken account of all the principles established in it.

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In the case of Atamanchuk v. Russia, the Court has found no violation of the Convention.

The applicant, a businessman and local politician, had been convicted for inciting hatred and enmity following statements made by him about non-Russians in a newspaper article published in 2008.

The Court held that the applicant’s sweeping remarks had not contributed to any public debate and that the national courts had been correct in their assessment that they evoked in the reader emotions or prejudices against the local population of non-Russian ethnicity.

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On 26 February 2020 the Court will be holding a hearing in the case of Hanan v. Germany concerning an investigation into an airstrike in Afghanistan which killed the applicant’s two sons.

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Calendar of hearings

The Court held a Grand Chamber hearing in the case of Guðmundur Andri Ástráðsson v. Iceland.

The case concerns the applicant’s allegation that the new Icelandic Court of Appeal (Landsréttur) which upheld his conviction was not established by law, having regard to irregularities in the appointment of one of the judges sitting on the bench. 

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Webcast of the hearing

Country profile - Iceland

On 6 February 2020 a high-level delegation of Judges from four superior courts in the United Kingdom visited the Court. The visiting Judges took part in roundtable discussions with Judges of the Court and members of the Registry.