Year: 2008
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Shipping News
On 10 July the Court issued a judgment in the case of Medvedyev and others v. France on the length of legal detention under exceptional circumstances. The case related to the apprehension of the Winner, a cargo ship, by the French authorities on the high…
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Ballot Box Judgments
Voting is not just a contentious issue in Zimbabwe, as several European Court judgments of this week show. The Grand Chamber ruled on Tuesday in the case of Yumak & Sadak v. Turkey that a 10% threshold for parliamentary elections did not violate the Convention…
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Red Star Judgment
The symbol of the red star was at the core of a dispute on which the European Court of Human Rights decided yesterday. In its judgment in the case of Vajnai v. Hungary it found a violation of the freedom of expression (Art. 10 ECHR).…
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Keeping Track of Disappearances
Last week, the European Court handed down judgments in three new disappearance cases, finding amongst others violations of the right to life: Ruslan Umarov v. Russia, Musayeva v. Russia, and Akhiyadova v. Russia. I have earlier commented that the stream of this kind of cases…
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What’s in a Name (Again)?
“Names are central elements of self-identification and self-definition.” That is what the Court held in last week’s judgment in the case of Daróczy v. Hungary. The case concerned a widow who was forced to change her name. When she married, in 1950, the applicant adopted…
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Eavesdropping confined
Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights gave an important ruling on the legality of intercepting telephone and email communications in Liberty and others v. the United Kingdom. The applicants, three NGOs from the United Kingdom and Ireland complained about the interception of their communications…
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Evidence Obtained Through Violation of Article 3 ECHR
In what must have been one of its the most difficult cases, the European Court yesterday ruled in Gäfgen v. Germany. Yesterday’s judgment is the apex of long and highly publicised judicial proceedings. In 2003, the applicant, Magnus Gäfgen, was sentenced to life imprisonment for…
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New ECHR Articles EHRLR
The newest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (2008-3) has just appeared, as fellow blog International Law Reporter reports. These are the featured articles: – Basak Çali, The Purposes of the European Human Rights System: One or Many?– Keir Starmer, Responsibility for Troops…
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Official Case Law Overviews
With the huge amount of judgments and decisions flowing from Strasbourg, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a good overview of the Court’s case law. Strasbourg itself offers several possibilities to alleviate any Court watcher’s burden. One important way are the Court’s case law information…
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Crossing the Line
This picture shows the Greek-Cypriot Solomon Solomou who tried, in the summer of 1996, to climb a flagpole (with a Turkish flag on it) just across the ceasefire line in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. He was killed by five bullets as he climbed up. This was…