Italy
ENTRY INTO FORCE of the European Convention on Human Rights
26 October 1955
Number of implemented cases*
3964
Examples
Fair compensation for victims of infected blood scandal
The European court ruled that Italy’s decision to stop victims from receiving inflation-adjusted compensation breached their human rights. Many relied on the payments to cover ongoing medical costs. The court’s ‘pilot judgment’ found that many others had potentially been affected by the decision, resulting in Italy making back payments totalling hundreds of millions of euros to victims.
Italy
Woman’s legal fight to find out about her origins
Anita Godelli was abandoned at birth. She tried for decades to find out about her origins, but Italian law prevented her from accessing the information. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that this was unfair and in violation of Anita’s rights. As a result of the European court’s judgment, Anita was finally able to learn the identity of her birth mother.
Ban lifted on medically assisted reproduction for healthy carriers of serious genetic diseases
As healthy carriers of a serious genetic disease, Rosetta Costa and Walter Pavan were unable to undergo medically assisted reproduction under Italian law. The European court ruled that the law in this area was inconsistent, and in breach of the couple’s rights. This judgment led Italy to lift the ban, which means couples like Rosetta and Walter can now access the treatment they need.
Deadly attack on woman and her son leads to ongoing reforms to combat domestic violence
Elisaveta Talpis’s husband physically abused her for years. She complained to the police, but they took no action for months. One night Elisaveta’s husband attacked her with a knife, wounding her and killing her son when he tried to intervene. The European court condemned the police’s inaction, leading to reforms to address domestic violence in Italy.
New rules to protect media pluralism after company prevented from broadcasting
Italian television was dominated by a small number of channels, with little diversity of ownership. When Centro Europa 7 tried to set up new channels, they were refused access to a broadcasting frequency. The company complained to the European court that the authorities were maintaining the concentration of media power in Italy. The case led to new rules for protecting media pluralism.
Reforms to protect access to justice after applications to Strasbourg highlight unreasonably long legal proceedings
The European Court of Human Rights identified well over a thousand cases where Italian legal proceedings had taken an unreasonably long time. One example was the case of Mr Ceteroni, whose litigation about his family business had lasted for over a decade. A wide range of reforms were introduced to reduce delays.
There must be proper rules on detention without trial
Giuseppe Toniolo was detained in San Marino for five weeks whilst awaiting extradition. The European court ruled that the law in San Marino did not set out clear rules for his imprisonment, meaning that he could be detained arbitrarily and could not effectively make a claim to be released.
San Marino
* This figure includes all judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights (including friendly settlements) concerning which the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has decided that all necessary follow-up measures have been taken. Source: the database of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, HUDOC-EXEC.