In the case of Lorenzo Bragado and Others v. Spain the Court held that there had been a violation of the right of access to court.

The case concerned the appointment process for membership of the General Council of the Judiciary (“the GCJ”), the governing body of the judiciary in Spain. In 2018, the GCJ composition came up for renewal and the applicants, at the time Spanish judges, were candidates. In 2020 the applicant judges lodged an amparo appeal with the Constitutional Court complaining about Parliament’s failure to follow through with the process for renewing the composition of the GCJ, but it was rejected as out of time.

The Court found that the  applicants could not have foreseen the way in which the relevant law on time-limits had been interpreted and applied in their case. That had impaired the very essence of their right of access to a court.

• Press release