Strasbourg Observers

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  • Hanim Schnabel

P. v. Poland: Protecting teachers’ online free speech, overlooking homophobic prejudice

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 […]

  • Lorenza Grossi

Special Prison Regime and Cognitive Decline: The ECtHR Finds a Violation of Article 3 in Morabito v. Italy

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 […]

  • Ellen Desmet, Ilse Derluyn and Sara Lembrechts

A mixed assessment on age assessment: F.B. v. Belgium

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 […]

  • Mathieu Leloup

Green v. the United Kingdom: absolute parliamentary immunity in Parliament, no matter the cost?

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 […]

  • Reza Khabook

El Aroud and Soughir v. Belgium: Why the ECtHR Should Rethink Citizenship Revocation as a Criminal Punishment?

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 […]

  • Catherine Van de Heyning

Strasbourg’s consolidation on technology-facilitated gender-based violence: M.Ș.D. v. Romania

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 […]

  • Sophie Bols

In the footsteps of Darboe and Camara – Age assessment of unaccompanied minors in A.C. v. France: between procedure and protection

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 […]

  • Merel Vrancken

Salay v. Slovakia: the Court disproportionately focuses on testing in condemning the disproportionate placement of Roma children in special education

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 […]

  • Lize R. Glas

Caldarar and Others v. Poland: A win for Roma rights, but not in every respect

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 […]

  • Louis Triaille

Clipea and Grosu v. the Republic of Moldova: an increasingly strict control on coercion and living conditions in psychiatric care

February 28, 2025

By Louis Triaille In its Clipea and Grosu v. the Republic of Moldova judgment, handed down on November 19, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) clarifies States’ positive obligations to protect in-patients with mental disabilities from ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions. The judgment illustrates an increasingly strict scrutiny by the ECtHR on institutional psychiatry, […]

  • Alan Greene

Allegation-Picking and the European Court of Human Rights: A Pervasive Court Practice Hiding in Plain Sight?

February 25, 2025

By Alan Greene It is now almost cliché to suggest that the European Court of Human Rights ‘missed an opportunity’ when handing down a judgment. Often, these laments highlight that the Court decided the case under a given Article of the Convention, and having done so, then declined to review any further allegation. This phenomenon […]

  • Philip Leach

Political prosecutions and unfair trials – Strasbourg scrutiny enhanced

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 […]

  • Lien Aerts

ECtHR slavishly follows CJEU case law in Ferrero Quintana v Spain

February 11, 2025

By Lien Aerts The case of Ferrero Quintana v Spain concerns an age limit applied in a recruitment procedure for police officers. The same recruitment procedure has been assessed by the CJEU, where another candidate also challenged the existence of the age limit (Salaberria Sorondo). Having exhausted all domestic remedies, Mr Ferrero Quintana turned to […]

  • Charlotte de Meeûs

Associated Newspapers Limited v. the United Kingdom: Can freedom of expression be compromised by excessive recoverable costs in defamation cases?

January 28, 2025

by Charlotte de Meeûs Introduction On 12 November 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) handed down its judgment in the case Associated Newspapers Limited v. the United Kingdom. The ECtHR assessed the compatibility of the recoverability of legal costs including success fees arising from conditional fee arrangements (‘CFAs’) and after-the-event (‘ATE’) insurance premiums […]

  • Eva Brems

In the Strasbourg Club: Discussing ageism with youngsters. A chat on Ferrero Quintana v Spain

January 24, 2025

Eva Brems It is our first meeting of the New Year, and we are happy to be ‘at it’ again, in the late afternoon, a few hours before the first snow of winter will make our journey home an arduous one. Six of us in the room, and five on the screen have been discussing […]

  • Ufuk Yeşil

Çamurşen v. Türkiye: Unresolved Issues in Yalçınkaya on Internet Traffic Data Retention Deferred

January 10, 2025

by Ufuk Yeşil The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ‘the Court’) declared the case of Çamurşen v. Türkiye inadmissible on the grounds of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies. In this case, the applicant alleged a violation of the right to respect for private life, arguing that internet traffic data had been retained beyond the prescribed […]

  • Vladislava Stoyanova

Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. v Hungary and the role of factual causation for finding breaches of positive obligations under the ECHR

December 20, 2024

by Vladislava Stoyanova Introduction Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. v Hungary raises some important questions about the standard of causation in the human rights law reasoning. This blog post does not aim to challenge the conclusion in the judgment that in fact appears very reasonable. This post is rather a continuation of my reflections […]

  • Marie-Hélène Ludwig and Arpi Avetisyan

Ban on legal gender recognition: the missed opportunity of the Y.T. v Bulgaria revision

December 17, 2024

By Marie-Hélène Ludwig and Arpi Avetisyan Y.T. v. Bulgaria is among the rare cases where the ECtHR has adjudicated on the revision of a judgment under Rule 80 of the Rules of the Court. In its original judgment of 9 July 2020, the ECtHR found  a violation of ECHR Article 8 as domestic courts refused to grant legal gender […]

  • Florian Van Tichelt

IT searches and seizures targeting lawyers: the case of Bersheda and Rybolovlev v. Monaco

December 13, 2024

by Florian Van Tichelt Introduction On the 6th of June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: ‘the Court’) delivered a judgment in the case of Bersheda and Rybolovlev v. Monaco. In this case, the Court had to decide on a Monegasque criminal investigation in which a lawyer’s phone was perused by virtue of […]

  • Sarah Ganty and Eva Brems

The HRC Submits a Third-Party Intervention in Obaidi and Al Farj to the ECtHR: On the Ongoing Rule of Law Crisis and Asylum Seekers’ Rights Violation in Belgium

December 06, 2024

By Sarah Ganty and Eva Brems[1] Earlier this fall, the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University submitted a third-party intervention in the communicated cases of Obaidi and Others v. Belgium and Al Farj and Others v. Belgium, relating to the ‘post-Camara’ context. In these cases, the Court is faced with similar questions as in the […]

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