May 23, 2025
By Lorenzo Acconciamessa On 29 April 2025 the Grand Chamber issued its ruling in the case of Mansouri v. Italy, which concerned the lawfulness and conditions of an alien’s confinement on board a private ship, used to return him to his country of departure on the basis of a refusal-of-entry order. As regards the applicant’s […]
May 20, 2025
By Hanim Schnabel In P v. Poland, the ECtHR ruled by 4 votes to 3 that the dismissal of a homosexual secondary school teacher for, inter alia, writing a blog for adults with some sexually explicit content violated Article 10 of the Convention. Without taking a stance on whether the dismissal actually pursued a legitimate […]
May 16, 2025
By Lorenza Grossi The ECtHR examines the compatibility between special prison regimes and Article 3 ECHR. More precisely, under scrutiny is Article 41-bis of Law No. 354 of 26 July 1975 (the Italian Prison Law), also known as ‘hard prison.’ This provision allows the suspension of ordinary prison conditions – such as outdoor time and […]
May 13, 2025
Dr. Anıl Güven Yüksel In Costa i Rosselló and Others v. Spain, delivered on 27 February 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared the applications inadmissible, reaffirming the compatibility of protecting constitutional order with the Convention framework. The case concerned several members of the Catalan Parliament who challenged enforcement measures—and, in some instances, […]
May 09, 2025
By Ellen Desmet, Ilse Derluyn and Sara Lembrechts F.B. v. Belgium concerns the decision of the Belgian Guardianship Service to terminate the support of an unaccompanied minor following an age assessment. While the ECtHR found a violation of Article 8 ECHR due to a lack of sufficient safeguards, it did not substantively engage with the […]
May 06, 2025
By Dr. Alice Dejean de la Bâtie Can the lethal use of an explosive grenade by law enforcement during a protest ever be justified? This question is at the heart of Fraisse et al. v. France (27 February 2025, nos. 22525/21 and 47626/21), a case brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) following […]
May 02, 2025
by dr. Mathieu Leloup Introduction Parliamentary immunity is a staple of domestic constitutional law, designed to protect free speech in Parliament. It is present in some form or another in every country of the Council of Europe. Broadly defined, it is a legal instrument which inhibits legal action, measures of investigation, or measures of law […]
May 01, 2025
The keynote of our two-day Strasbourg Observers 15th Anniversary Symposium will be held by the Chief Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights Dr. Marialena Tsirli. Next Friday 9th of May at 14:00, Dr. Tsirli will speaking on the big picture evolutions at the European Court of Human Rights and how the work of […]
April 29, 2025
By dr. Ufuk Yeşil Is crossing the border with the wrong person enough to convict you of terrorism? On March 25, 2025, the Second Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered its judgement in Demirer v. Turkey, addressing the perplexing case of Serferaz Demirer, who faced conviction for purportedly being a member […]
April 25, 2025
By Reza Khabook On 3 December 2024, the ECtHR issued a Chamber judgment in El Aroud and Soughir v. Belgium. This case concerns the applicants’ citizenship revocation[1] following their terrorism-related convictions in Belgium. The Court concluded that Article 8 had not been violated and excluded the case from the scope of Article 2 of Protocol […]
April 22, 2025
By Catherine Van de Heyning As society digitalised, so did gender-based violence. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has become an unfortunate byproduct of digitalisation. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) already recognised that cyberviolence may amount to a violation of the right to privacy and, in some instances, even to degrading and inhuman treatment. In […]
April 18, 2025
Grażyna Baranowska Marie-Bénédicte Dembour Isabel Kienzle This post, an output of the DISSECT project, is concomitantly being published on the DISSECT blog Regularly operated at many borders of CoE member states, pushbacks are problematic practices from a human rights perspective. They generally violate the principle of non-refoulement under Article 3 ECHR as well as, most […]
April 15, 2025
by Carmen Draghici The Strasbourg Court has been notoriously reluctant to interfere with the domestic regulation of divorce, both as regards its availability (Johnston v. Ireland) and the grounds on which it may be obtained (Babiarz v. Poland, discussed here). Nonetheless, in H.W. v. France, issued in January 2025, it has shown willingness to review […]
April 11, 2025
By Koen Lemmens Liability for what others said on social media remains a complicated issue as a recent ECtHR judgment illustrates once again. In Alexandru Pătraşcu v. Roumania, the Court had to assess the applicant’s civil conviction for statements made by him, but also for statements made by other persons, on his Facebook page. According […]
April 08, 2025
By Burak Tahsin Bahce In Novaya Gazeta and Others, delivered on 11 February 2025, the European Court of Human Rights issued yet another judgment against Russia, finding multiple violations, importantly a violation of Article 10 of the Convention. Judge Pavli expressed his concurring opinion addressing a broader issue -the Court’s role as a ‘watchdog of […]
April 04, 2025
By Sophie Bols On 16 January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights issued another judgment, A.C. v. France, on age assessment procedures for unaccompanied minors and held that there was a violation of Article 8 ECHR. The Court emphasises the importance of procedural safeguards, reaffirming some of the findings established in Darboe and Camara […]
April 02, 2025
Violetta Sefkow-Werner The recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) in the case Cannavacciuolo and Others v. Italy of 30 January 2025 concerns a large-scale pollution phenomenon in the Italian Campania region caused by decades-long illegal and uncontrolled waste disposal by private actors and sustained by the government’s systematic […]
March 28, 2025
Stephanie Motz and Annina Mullis On 7 January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (Court/ECtHR) published its findings in A.R.E. v. Greece and G.R.J. v. Greece. In these two cases, the Court adjudicated for the first time specifically on pushback allegations at the hands of Greek authorities. Both applications were part of a series of […]
March 25, 2025
By Merel Vrancken In Salay v. Slovakia the European Court of Human Rights held that the overrepresentation of Roma pupils in special education in Slovakia constituted discrimination. The ECtHR’s ruling in Salay v. Slovakia is very similar to that of the Grand Chamber in D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic in 2007. Nonetheless, Salay […]
March 21, 2025
by Lize R. Glas On 6 February 2025, the Court delivered the judgment Caldarar and Others v. Poland, concerning the demolition of a Roma encampment. The Polish Nomada Association for Multicultural Integration (‘Nomada’) welcomed the judgment as a ‘landmark ruling from Strasbourg’. The European Roma Rights Centre (‘ERRC’) issued a press release entitled ‘European Court […]