Romania: Judicial reform introducing safeguards for judges against suspension from office
On 8 November 2023, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgment in the case of Camelia Bogdan v. Romania. This case concerns the denial of access to a court due to the impossibility for the applicant, a former career judge, to challenge her...
Hungary: Legislative changes ensure compensation of persons having lost their disability benefits due to new eligibility criteria introduced in 2012
On 31 October, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgments in the Béláné Nagy group. This group of cases, consisting of four judgments, concerned violations of the right to protection of property on account of the applicants’ complete or partial loss of...
Greece: Abolition of protective custody and new comprehensive system of protection of the unaccompanied minors
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Rahimi concerning the degrading treatment of unaccompanied minors (“UM”) on account of their poor living or detention conditions. The case was pending under enhanced supervision since 2011. In response to...
Türkiye : Constitutional Court annuls suspension of pronouncement of judgments
In its Hasan Köse judment, under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers in the Batı and others group, the European Court indicated under Article 46 of the Convention that the suspension of the pronouncement of judgments may create an atmosphere of impunity and that in cases of state...
Azerbaijan : Legislative changes on the composition of the Judicial Legal Council
On 9 June 2023 the Parliament of Azerbaijan amended the Law on Judicial-Legal Council (JLC) regarding its composition. In respect of each case examined under the Mammadli group, the European Court found a violation of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5 of the Convention, revealing a...
Germany: changes in administrative practise of prisons ensure adequate medical treatment of detainees with drug substitution therapy
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Wenner concerning the respondent state’s failure to ensure that the health of the applicant, a long-term heroin addict without any realistic chance of overcoming addiction and having received substitution...
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Legislative changes foreseen to end unlawful detention in social care homes
On 24 August, in response to the European Court’s judgments in the Hadžimejlić and Others group (concerning unlawful detention of applicants in social care homes without a decision of the competent civil court), the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) adopted a bill for...
Belgium: the Committee of Ministers ends its supervision of a case concerning a European arrest warrant issued by Spanish authorities
On 12 July 2023, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the Romeo Castaño v. Belgium judgment. This case concerned the unsufficiently thorough scrutiny by the Belgian courts of the grounds for refusing to execute the arrest warrants issued in 2004, 2005 and 2015 by...
Italy introduces additional procedural safeguards with respect to search orders
On 12 July, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Brazzi v. Italy. The case concerns a violation of the applicant’s right to respect for his home due to the lack in the Italian legal system of prior judicial oversight or effective ex post facto...
Montenegro: Legislative changes foreseen abolishing prescription for torture
On 8 June, in response to the European Court’s judgments in the Siništaj and Others group (concerning ill-treatment by law-enforcement officers and lack of effective investigations), the Montenegrin Government adopted a proposal for amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro. It foresees the...
Hungary: Committee partly ends supervision of general measures in excessive length of proceedings cases
During its Human Rights meeting of 5-7 June 2023, the Committee of Ministers decided to partly end its supervision of the execution of the Strasbourg Court’s judgments in the Gazsó group of cases considering that no further general measures were required as regards the introduction of a...
Türkiye: Measures adopted to protect landowners’ property rights in cases of expropriation without formal decision and compensation
On 6 June, the Committee ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in the case of Hakan Ari, concerning the violation of the applicant’s right to peaceful enjoyment of his property due to the designation of his plot of land for public service in the town planning scheme, ...
Romania: removals of senior prosecutors are now subject to judicial review and freedom of expression is reinforced
At its Human Rights meeting held on 5-7 June the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in the case of Kövesi. This case concerned violations of the Convention due to the lack of judicial review concerning the premature termination of the applicant’s...
Denmark amends family reunification rules following ECHR judgment
On 5 June, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in M.A. v Denmark. The case concerns the unjustified statutory three-year waiting period for family reunification of the applicant who had fled Syria in 2015 and was granted temporary protection. His...
France: strengthening freedom of expression in the context of calls for a commercial boycott
The Committee of Ministers has ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in the case of Baldassi and Others, concerning a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression, resulting from the applicants’ criminal convictions for incitement to economic discrimination, due...
North Macedonia: Abolition of prescription for torture
On 13 February, the Parliament of North Macedonia adopted amendments to the Criminal Code abolishing the prescription for the crime of torture as requested by the Committee of Ministers within the context of its supervision of the implementation of the Kitanovski group of ECHR judgments. Thus...
Italy: Reform of review mechanism of whole life sentences aiming at aligning with ECHR judgment
In its Decision of 10 March the Committee of Ministers noted with satisfaction the reform of the Prison Administration Act (Article 4 bis) which introduced the possibility for prisoners who fail to cooperate with the judicial authorities to be eligible for release on parole, in response to the...
Sweden amends its Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression
In response to the European Court’s judgment in the case of Arlewin, concerning the lack of effective access to a court to obtain protection against alleged defamation through a foreign TV broadcast, the Swedish Parliament amended the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression (one of the four laws...
New practice of the Croatian Constitutional Court following ECHR judgment concerning costs incurred by vulnerable persons
In December 2022, the Constitutional Court aligned its practice with the European Court’s judgment in Dragan Kovačević concerning the Constitutional Court’s failure to reimburse the applicant, a person of low-income suffering from a mental disability, the costs incurred in the proceedings upon...
Belgium strengthens the protection of detainees through a new right of complaint
The Committee of Ministers completed its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in the case of Bamouhammad on 14 December, concerning the modalities of the execution of the applicant's detention (repeated transfers from prisons and numerous exceptional security measures), combined with...
Iceland: Supreme Court quashes applicants’ convictions and new law prevents new violations of the ne bis in idem principle
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgments in the Johannesson and Others group of cases on 14 December. These cases concern violations of one’s right not to be tried or punished twice (ne bis in idem) on account of the applicants’ convictions for the...
Norway enhances legal framework concerning police search and seizure of data protected by legal professional privilege
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Saber on 16 November. This case concerned the unlawful interference in the applicant’s right to respect for his correspondence, because his smart phone containing information protected by legal professional...
Lithuania: Constitutional amendment implementing ECHR judgment
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgment in the case of the former president Rolandas Paksas, which was pending since 2011. In its judgment, the Court found a violation of the applicant’s right to free elections due to the “permanent and...
Romania : Introduction of a remedy with automatic suspensive effect against expulsion after criminal conviction
In response to the European Court’s judgment in the case of D. and Others concerning the absence of suspensive effect of the available domestic remedies against expulsion following a criminal conviction, Parliament adopted Law No. 247/2022. The law was signed by the President and entered into...
Ukraine reinforces safeguards against domestic and gender-based violence
On 20 June, the Parliament of Ukraine approved the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention). The respective law was signed by the President and entered into force on 2 July. On 18 July, Ukraine deposited the...
State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina aligns procedures with ECHR judgment concerning equality of arms
In September 2021, one month after the European Court’s judgment in Bimal d.d. concerning a breach of the principle of equality of arms in administrative judicial-review proceedings, the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina introduced a mandatory requirement that each party to such proceedings...
Greece: Legislative measures to tackle excessive formalism by criminal courts
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Kallergis, which was pending since 2009. The case concerned a violation of the applicant’s right of access to a court due to the excessively formalistic interpretation by the Court of Cassation of...
Greece: New law regulates separated parents’ access to children in line with ECHR judgment
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the ECHR judgment in Fourkiotis concerning the inadequacy of measures taken by the competent authorities to secure the enforcement of a court decision ordering interim measures on the applicant father’s rights of access to his...
Montenegro: Authorities and civil sector pursue joint training on preventing police ill-treatment and effective investigations
In response to the European Court’s judgments in the Siništaj and Others group (regarding police ill-treatment and lack of effective investigations), the Montenegrin authorities have organised, in cooperation with the NGO "Civic Alliance", a training programme for police officers, judges and...
Greece: Measures adopted to enhance hate crime investigations
The Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of execution of the ECHR judgment in Sakir concerning mainly ineffective criminal investigations into the racially motivated assault suffered by the migrant applicant in 2009. Following the Court’s judgment, the authorities implemented a wide range...
