Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Smoking

  • Casper Vanspauwen

Vainik and Others v. Estonia [GC]: Who is afraid of the scope of Article 8 ECHR?

August 25, 2026

By Casper Vanspauwen On 30 June 2026, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR decided to strike out the applications constituting the case of Vainik and Others v. Estonia. In doing so, the Court effectively annulled its earlier Chamber judgment of 4 November 2025, in which it had ruled in favour of the applicants by a […]

  • Thomas Joyce

Overrelying on the Principle of Criminalisation? Vainik and Others v Estonia and the Human Right to Smoke

January 20, 2026

By Dr. Thomas Joyce Introduction In November 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that inmates should not be prohibited from smoking in prison, pursuant to Article 8 of the ECHR. A small number of inmates brought the case against Estonia, after the Estonian Supreme Court (Riigiohus) declared that the complete ban on […]