On 7 October 2021, the European Court of Human Rights held down a chamber judgment in the case of Zoletic and Others v. Azerbaijan (no. 20116/12). The case concerns 33 nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina who were recruited as temporary construction workers in Azerbaijan. Their complaint concerns their treatment there by Serbaz Design and Construction LLC and their subsequent treatment by the authorities and the latter’s alleged failure to protect them. Relying on Article 4 § 2 (prohibition of forced labour), Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the European Convention, the applicants complain that they had been victims of human trafficking and forced labour. The Court held that there had been a violation of Article 4 § 2 of the Convention for failure to effectively investigate claims of forced labour and trafficking.

On 21 October 2021, the European Court of Human Rights held down a chamber judgment in the case of Selygenenko and Others v. Ukraine (application no. 24919/16 and 28658/16). The applicants, who are all internally displaced persons who fled the conflict in Donetsk and Crimea, came to Kyiv in 2014-15. The case concerned the alleged discriminatory denial of a vote to them in the Kyiv local elections in 2015 as, despite their IDP documents showing their place of residence as being Kyiv, the authorities had held that they were still residents of their towns of origin. The Court found in particular that the authorities had failed to take into consideration the particular situation of the applicants as IDPs and had discriminated against them in the enjoyment of their right to vote in local elections. The Court decided that there had been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 (general prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

On 21 October 2021, the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to which the case Sanchez-Sanchez v. United Kingdom (application no. 22854/20) had been allocated has relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber of the Court. The case concerns the applicant’s extradition to the United States, where there is a possibility that he may, if convicted, be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The applicant, Ismail Sanchez-Sanchez, is a Mexican national who was born in 1968. He is detained in Wandsworth Prison in the United Kingdom. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport (United Kingdom) on 19 April 2018 in response to a request from the United States for his provisional arrest.