Month: August 2021

Of statues and Santa Claus: does Article 10 protect hooliganism acts on a historical figure’s statue?

Juncal Montero Freedom of Expression, Handzhiyski v. Bulgaria, hooliganism, statues

By Juncal Montero Regules, PhD fellow of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) at the faculty of Law, Hasselt University

On 6 April 2021, the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) held that a non-criminal conviction for placing Santa Claus accessories on a communist leader’s statue in the context of nation-wide political protests violated the applicant’s freedom of expression. Handzhiyski v. Bulgaria concerns the distinction between satirical and political protests, and wanton acts of vandalism and hooliganism, as well as the necessity of the sanction against acts which do not destroy or physically impair documents. The judgment stands in line with previous case-law on monuments and political protests, while again breaking with the interpretative line in Sinkova.

Facts and judgment

The facts of the case took place in December 2013, against the background of anti-government protests which started in May of that year, when a new coalition government, led by the Socialist Party, was formed in Bulgaria following parliamentary elections. Protests erupted against the newly-formed government in the wake of the elections, and continued until mid-January 2014. In the midst of widespread citizens rejection, the government stepped down in July 2014.

In the early hours of the 25th December 2013, the statue of Mr. Dimitar Blagoev, situated in the central square of Blagoevgrad, was painted in red and white by unknown persons, so as to resemble Santa Claus. The plinth of the statue was daubed, using white spray, with the words “Father Frost”. Shortly before 10am on the same day, the applicant, Mr. Handzhiyski, placed a red Santa Claus hat on the painted statue’s head and a red sack at its feet. The sack featured a white band with the word “resignation” on it. Later that day, he was arrested and placed in police detention for twenty-four hours. He was charged and found guilty of minor hooliganism for having placed the cap and the sack on Mr. Blagoev’s statue, for which he was fined around 51 euros. The Regional Court upheld the lower court’s judgment, considering that the applicant’s act amounted to minor hooliganism, as his act had been indecent and had breached the public order.

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Kurt v Austria: A missed chance to tackle intersectional discrimination and gender-based stereotyping in domestic violence cases

Guest Blogger Article 2, Grand Chamber, Intersectionality, Kurt v. Austria, Stereotypes

By Lisa Maria Weinberger*

On 15 June 2021, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rendered its judgment on the domestic violence case Kurt v Austria. This case concerned a woman in Austria who experienced domestic violence at the hands of her husband, which resulted in his murdering their son. Based on a highly divisive ten to seven Court decision, the majority of the Grand Chamber endorsed the preceding Chamber’s assessment and rejected the applicant’s claim of an Article 2 violation of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) on account of the authorities’ failure to ensure the protection of her son’s life from his violent father. Nevertheless, important general principles regarding domestic violence were clarified.

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The first COVID-19 related collective complaint before the European Committee of Social Rights deemed inadmissible: Greek Bar Associations v. Greece.

Guest Blogger Admissibility, ECSR, GBA v. Greece, Social rights

By Maria Kotsoni, PhD researcher at the Department of Law of the European University Institute

Just a few months after the inadmissibility judgement of Le Mailloux v. France, another inadmissibility decision was adopted in a case related to states’ socio-economic management of the COVID-19 crisis. Only this time it was the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), the monitoring body of the European Social Charter (ESC), that dismissed a complaint as inadmissible within the context of the collective complaints procedure. The complaint against Greece was lodged on 28 May 2020 by the Greek Bar Associations. The complainant organizations alleged a violation of several provisions of the ESC on various grounds. The ECSR found the complaint inadmissible in a decision adopted on 23 March 2021, despite its prompt interpretative response to the COVID-19 crisis paving the way for challenging states’ responses to the pandemic as incompatible with socio-economic rights obligations (see Statement of interpretation on the right to protection of health in times of pandemic, Statement on COVID-19 and Social Rights).

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Tőkés v. Romania: the struggle to identify the form and content that objectify a flag within the right to freedom of expression

Guest Blogger Artistic and political expression, Freedom of Expression, Tőkés v. Romania

By Xavier Farré Fabregat, research assistant at IPERG (Universitat de Barcelona)

Introduction

The political articulation of minorities in a centrist and hierarchical State can challenge pre-designed institutional responses, (over)stretching the limits of rights and duties held by citizens and the State. In the present case, the display of two minority flags by former politician Lázló Tőkés provoked an answer by the local Romanian authorities that brought to the fore certain questions about the limits of freedom of expression. Domestic courts ruled the sanction and removal of both flags carried out by local police to be lawful, opening the door of the European Court of Human Rights to Tőkés. The Court crafted a peculiar sentence that concluded that a violation of the right to freedom of expression (as enshrined in article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also the ‘Convention’ or ‘ECHR’) took place, unchaining a conservative dissenting opinion by judges Motoc and Kucsko-Stadlmayer. In this post I present the legal keys of a case which uses a rather general vocabulary but whose gist is more elusive than what it may seem at first sight. 

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