Strasbourg Observers
  • Cristina Cocito

Glukhin v. Russia: facial recognition considered highly intrusive but not inconsistent with fundamental rights

January 09, 2024

By Cristina Cocito In Glukhin v. Russia of 4 July 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered an important ruling on the fundamental rights implications of technology. The case concerns compliance of facial recognition technology (hereafter FRT) with human rights. The judgment underlines the ‘highly intrusive’ nature of FRT. Most importantly, it finds […]

  • Dr. Alice Dejean de la Bâtie

Peaceful protest turned violent: Will Article 11 ECHR hold out against increased criminalisation?

December 22, 2023

By Dr. Alice Dejean de la Bâtie Lawmakers in Europe are tightening the grip of Criminal Law on public protests and gatherings, targeting demonstrations turning violent and threatening public order and safety (see below). This increase in repression carries the risk of unnecessary interference with the right to freedom of peaceful assembly enshrined in Article […]

  • Babette De Naeyer

The Pablo Hasél Case 2.0: Slander and Defamation of the Spanish Crown According to the ECtHR

December 19, 2023

by Babette De Naeyer Pablo Rivadulla Duró is a Spanish rapper, better known as Pablo Hasél, who was criminally convicted for writing several insulting tweets, in which he, for example, called the royal family ‘parasites’ and a ‘criminal gang’. He also wrote an offensive rap song, in which he accused King Emeritus Juan Carlos I […]

  • Daniel Krotov

How to Manage the End of Perpetual Challenging Rights? – The Case of Legros and Others v. France

December 15, 2023

by Daniel Krotov French administrative procedural law notoriously provides wide access to the courts that, from a foreign point of view, may even seem a bit excessive. One example was the possibility to challenge administrative acts indefinitely if they lacked proper instruction on the right to appeal. In an effort to restrict this perpetual challenging […]

  • Sabrina Praduroux

Is it Safe to Bury the Truth under the Family Tree? The ECtHR’s Response in Gauvin-Fournis and Silliau v France

December 12, 2023

By Sabrina Praduroux There have been longstanding ethical concerns regarding the anonymity of gamete donors in the context of medically-assisted reproduction techniques. In recent years, the increasing importance placed on the right to know one’s biological origins as a fundamental aspect of personal identity has also raised questions about the principle of donor anonymity from […]

  • Mathieu Leloup

Wałęsa v Poland: a forceful culmination of the Court’s rule-of-law case law

December 08, 2023

By Mathieu Leloup Polish rule of law cases are by no means still a novelty at the European Court of Human Rights. Over the course of the last couple of years, the Court has ruled on a wide variety of aspects concerning the Polish legal “reforms” of its judiciary, going from the composition of the […]

  • Ignatius Yordan Nugraha

Ikotity and Others v. Hungary: Restricting the Opposition’s Freedom of Expression through a Wide Margin of Appreciation in the Context of Democratic Backsliding

December 05, 2023

by Ignatius Yordan Nugraha Does the right to freedom of expression imply the right to use posters in parliament to strengthen the point of your expression? In Ikotity and Others v. Hungary, notified in writing on 5 October 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) seems to be sceptical of such a conception. At […]

  • Steve Foster

Prisoner voting rights and the ECHR: Myslihaka and Others v. Albania

December 01, 2023

by Dr Steve Foster Disenfranchisement of convicted prisoners in Europe remains varied despite the Grand Chamber’s pivotal decision in Hirst v. United Kingdom No. 2 that any interference with a prisoner’s right to vote had to be necessary and proportionate. Thus, since Hirst the Court has upheld a number of State restrictions on prisoner voting […]

  • Eva Brems

In the Strasbourg Club: Who controls my gametes? Ranting on Baret & Caballero v. France

November 28, 2023

by Eva Brems Six members in a room in Ghent and five on a screen have enjoyed unpacking and weighing all the separate opinions in the Grand Chamber judgment in Yüksel Yalcinkaya v. Türkiye. Without pausing for tea, we move on to the other case Irene has selected for our biweekly discussion. Baret and Caballero […]

  • Sarah Ganty and Dimitry V. Kochenov

Hijacking Human Rights to Enable Punishment by Association: Valiullina, Džibuti and Outlawing Minority Schooling in Latvia

November 23, 2023

by Sarah Ganty and Dimitry V. Kochenov[i] In Valiullina and others v. Latvia and Džibuti and others v. Latvia, the Fifth Section of the European Court of Human Rights unanimously approved of further restrictions on Russian-language education in Latvia, thereby depriving a huge proportion of the population of the Republic of Latvia of education in […]

  • Maria Tzanou

Bulk transborder surveillance, foreign nationals and the application of ECHR rights: Wieder and Guarnieri v. the UK– a seminal (but underwhelming) judgment

November 21, 2023

By Maria Tzanou Do persons outside an ECHR Contracting State fall within the Convention’s territorial jurisdiction if their electronic communications were (or were at risk of being) intercepted, searched and examined by that State’s intelligence agencies operating within its borders for the purposes of a complaint under Article 8 ECHR? The ECtHR’s Fourth Section judgment […]

  • Gaia Zanotti

Developing labour rights under the ECHR in Pengezov: one step forward and one step backward

November 17, 2023

By Gaia Zanotti In the new decision of Pengezov v. Bulgaria the Strasbourg Court was given an opportunity to reassess not only the applicability of Art.8 ECHR i.e. the right to private life- to employment disputes but also the applicability of Art.1 of Prot.1 of the Convention- i.e. the right to peaceful enjoyment of property- […]

  • Dr. Ronagh McQuigg

Domestic Abuse and Child Contact: Luca v The Republic of Moldova.

November 14, 2023

Dr. Ronagh McQuigg The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has now built up a considerable body of case law on domestic abuse.  It is now firmly established that failure on the part of State authorities to respond in a sufficient manner to this issue may constitute breaches of Articles 2, 3, 8 and 14 […]

  • Aura Iurascu

The (Un)Acceptable Impact of Failed Waste Management: A Comment on Locascia and Others v. Italy

November 10, 2023

by Aura Iurascu Wondering what a waste management crisis looks like? The Campania region (Italy) experienced one for 15 years. Official orders of the mayors of Caserta and San Nicola La Strada described the acute phase of the crisis as a serious situation caused by massive heaps of waste piling up in the streets that […]

  • Ignatius Yordan Nugraha

Consolidating the Legal Recognition and Protection of Same-Sex Couples: Koilova and Babulkova v. Bulgaria

November 07, 2023

by Ignatius Yordan Nugraha In today’s globalised world, a marriage contracted abroad is not a peculiar phenomenon. Same-sex couples from countries such as Bulgaria or Romania may decide to tie the knot in a country where same-sex marriage has been legalised to start a family life. These couples, however, face a major legal hurdle not […]

  • Dr. Betül Durmuş

Judicial Stereotypes on Female Sexuality and Reproduction: Nurcan Bayraktar v Türkiye

November 02, 2023

By Dr. Betül Durmuş I remember the first time I learned about Article 132 of the Turkish Civil Code (‘TCC’) in the family law classes in Turkey. This provision imposes a 300-day waiting period for divorced women to remarry unless they medically prove they are not pregnant. As a young woman and a law student, […]

  • Tobias Mortier

Lenis v. Greece: extreme homophobia not protected under freedom of expression

October 25, 2023

by Tobias Mortier Hate speech and violence against LGBTQI+ individuals are on the rise in Europe. In 2022, ILGA Europe reported an increase in both the number of cases of violence, as well as in their severity. As for hate speech, this was by no means limited to furtive cases; politicians in several countries (including […]

  • Harriet Ní Chinnéide

The Expulsion of Migrants: The Court Rules in Four Cases against Denmark this September

October 20, 2023

by Harriet Ní Chinnéide This September, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) delivered four rulings in cases involving the expulsion of settled migrants from Denmark. In two of them, the Court found in favour of the State and in the other two, it found a violation of Article 8 (right to respect […]

  • Emre Turkut

‘Article 7’ Shockwaves, ByLock and Beyond: Unpacking the Grand Chamber’s Yalçınkaya Judgment

October 13, 2023

by Emre Turkut On 26 September 2023, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered a highly anticipated decision in the case of Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye. The case concerns an application lodged on 17 March 2020 by a teacher who was dismissed from public service through a coercive state of emergency decree, […]

  • Eva Brems

In the Strasbourg Club: The Right to be Forgotten v the Right to Remember. A Conversation on Hurbain v Belgium

October 10, 2023

by Eva Brems Strasbourg Observers is proud to present a new series of columns to its blog: ‘In the Strasbourg Club’! In these posts, professor Eva Brems, one of our editors-in-chief, presents an accessible, dialogue-style discussion of a recent case. The columns will be based on/inspired by real-life discussions in the bi-weekly ‘Strasbourg Club’, a […]

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