October 02, 2026
By Marilena Katsogiannou Among the striking features of the Grand Chamber’s judgment in Kavala v. Türkiye (no. 2) is the way it dealt with Kavala’s expressly pleaded Article 7 complaint. It identified the defects at its core, but did not decide the complaint under this provision. Article 7 ECHR embodies the principle of criminal legality: […]
September 08, 2026
By Basil Saen As reported earlier on this blog, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) issued an interesting Grand Chamber judgment in Yasak v. Türkiye on 5 May 2026. This case sits in the context of mass prosecutions and convictions of alleged members of the ‘Fetullahist Terrorist Organisation/Parallel State Structure’ (the […]
August 28, 2026
By Vesna Stefanovska On 7 July 2026, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in Al Nashiri v. Lithuania. The applicant had been detained for more than five months in a CIA detention facility in Lithuania, resulting in several Convention violations. In relation to Article 8, the Court found a violation on account […]
July 10, 2026
by Dr David Mier Galera In Biliński v. Poland (April 15, 2026), the ECtHR once again defends the independence of Polish judges against arbitrary actions by higher judicial bodies and the National Council of the Judiciary affected by the judicial reform in Poland. The judicial reform in Poland was approved in 2017, but its effects […]
June 19, 2026
by Philip Nedelcu On 31 March 2026, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in the case of Yuriy Dmitriyev v. Russia (case no. 47934/17), one of the several thousand individual applications still pending against Russia after it ceased to be a member of the Council of Europe on 16 September 2022. […]
June 12, 2026
by Marilena I. Katsogiannou The intersection of alternatives to prosecution and fair trial guarantees has long occupied a contested space in European criminal procedure. In B.G. v. France (application no. 70945/17, 19 March 2026), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) confronted this tension in its most acute form: a minor who had reported a […]
May 15, 2026
by Charlotte Teuwens When it comes to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) already has an extensive list of case law. Yet, at the beginning of 2026, the Court was once again asked to rule on a case in which there had been […]
March 10, 2026
By Stefan Robert McClean and Udit Mahalingam By six votes to one, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) in Renouard v France held that the conferral of jurisdictional immunity to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before French courts did not breach Article 6 of the Convention on the right to access […]
March 03, 2026
On 9 December 2025, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its first merits judgment concerning remote hearings conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic in Stephan Kucera v. Austria. The case related to an appeal hearing against a penalty notice which, under domestic law, was classified as an administrative fine. Owing to the severity of the […]
October 21, 2025
By Dr. Ufuk Yeşil On July 22, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in Demirhan and Others v. Türkiye (Demirhan), addressing the convictions of 239 Turkish nationals for alleged membership in the Gülen movement, primarily based on their alleged use of the encrypted messaging application ByLock. Building on the landmark […]
September 26, 2025
by Gvantsa Danelia The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently delivered its judgment in Matchavariani v. Georgia (Application no. 46852/21). At first glance, the case might seem like another routine finding of a violation in an administrative detention case. However, a closer examination reveals a subtle yet crucial message from Strasbourg, particularly concerning a […]
May 27, 2025
By Alain Zysset The key feature of an anxious-avoidant attachment style is the ambivalence between seeking connection and seeking withdrawal. This can lead to inconsistent behaviours towards partners, displaying excessive closeness one time and abruptly retreating from the relationship the next time. There are analogous traits of an anxious-avoidant attachment style in the Court’s reasoning […]
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 […]
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 […]
February 18, 2025
by Philip Leach Introduction With the ominous prospect of further political prosecutions in some parts of Europe, it is welcome that the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’, ‘ECtHR’) has taken a significant step to ensure greater accountability. It has done so by developing its case law under Article 18 of the European Convention […]
November 05, 2024
By Ola Johan Settem On 24 September 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a Grand Chamber judgment in Fabbri and others v. San Marino (6319/21). The judgment concerns the rights of crime victims who attempt to pursue a civil claim against the offender by joining the criminal proceedings. The Grand Chamber clarifies […]
August 20, 2024
by dr Holly Greenwood Introduction The case of Nealon and Hallam v. the United Kingdom concerned a joint application from two individuals who were denied compensation for their wrongful convictions under the statutory scheme in England and Wales. The applicants argued s.133(1ZA) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, as amended by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime […]
August 13, 2024
By Andrew Novak The decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Saakashvili v. Georgia provides a novel comparative analysis of the executive clemency power and an executive’s immunity from prosecution for misuse of that power. The debate over the nature of the pardon, filed by the former president of the Republic of Georgia, […]
July 03, 2024
By Júlia Miklasová On 25 June 2024, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights rendered a long-awaited judgment (combined applications No. 20958/14 (merits) and 38334/18 (admissibility and merits)) in an inter-State case of Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea). In this unanimous judgment, the Court found Russia responsible for the violation of the majority of […]
April 16, 2024
By dr. Mathieu Leloup It is no secret that the protection of the independence of domestic judges has been high on the judicial agenda of the supranational courts in the recent past. Over the course of the last few years, issues related to judicial independence have been at the forefront of the case law of […]