Spain: Recent good practices in the field of execution of the European Court's judgments

22 March 2024

Legislative reforms, which entered into force on 20 March 2024, established the possibility for the Spanish Government Agent’s Office to intervene in proceedings initiated before the Supreme Court by applicants seeking the reopening of domestic proceedings following a judgment of the European...

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Croatia: Legislative changes adopted to provide global solution to the protected lease scheme issue and to ensure an effective remedy to complain about excessive length of civil proceedings

18 March 2024

On 14 March 2024, the Croatian Parliament adopted two laws to execute the European Court's judgments. In particular, the law was adopted to resolve the long standing issue concerning the statutory limitations on the landlords’ use of flats subject to protected tenancy (Statileo v. Croatia group)....

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Finland: New safeguards for decisions on extension of confinement in mental hospital and forcible administration of medication

15 March 2024 Strasbourg

On 12 March 2024, the Committee of Ministers ended its supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgment in X v. Finland concerning extensions of confinement in mental hospitals and forcible administration of medication without adequate legal safeguards. The case had been pending...

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Belgium: the Committee of Ministers ends its supervision of a case concerning a refusal to authorise the return of bodies for funeral abroad

19 December 2023

The Committee of Ministers just ended its supervision of the execution of the Aygün v. Belgium judgment. This case concerns an infringement of the applicants' right to privacy (Article 8) and freedom of religion (Article 9), as a result of a Belgian investigating judge's refusal in September 2010...

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Romania: Judicial reform introducing safeguards for judges against suspension from office

24 November 2023

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...

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Hungary: Legislative changes ensure compensation of persons having lost their disability benefits due to new eligibility criteria introduced in 2012

8 November 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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Greece: Abolition of protective custody and new comprehensive system of protection of the unaccompanied minors

29 September 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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Türkiye : Constitutional Court annuls suspension of pronouncement of judgments

27 September 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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Azerbaijan : Legislative changes on the composition of the Judicial Legal Council

26 September 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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Germany: changes in administrative practise of prisons ensure adequate medical treatment of detainees with drug substitution therapy

14 September 2023

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...

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Bosnia and Herzegovina: Legislative changes foreseen to end unlawful detention in social care homes

1 September 2023

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...

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Belgium: the Committee of Ministers ends its supervision of a case concerning a European arrest warrant issued by Spanish authorities

20 July 2023

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...

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Italy introduces additional procedural safeguards with respect to search orders

13 July 2023

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...

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Montenegro: Legislative changes foreseen abolishing prescription for torture

3 July 2023

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...

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Hungary: Committee partly ends supervision of general measures in excessive length of proceedings cases

14 June 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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Türkiye: Measures adopted to protect landowners’ property rights in cases of expropriation without formal decision and compensation

13 June 2023 Strasbourg

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, ...

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Romania: removals of senior prosecutors are now subject to judicial review and freedom of expression is reinforced

12 June 2023

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...

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Denmark amends family reunification rules following ECHR judgment

9 June 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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France: strengthening freedom of expression in the context of calls for a commercial boycott

20 April 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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North Macedonia: Abolition of prescription for torture

23 March 2023

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...

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Italy: Reform of review mechanism of whole life sentences aiming at aligning with ECHR judgment

22 March 2023

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...

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Sweden amends its Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression

21 March 2023

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...

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New practice of the Croatian Constitutional Court following ECHR judgment concerning costs incurred by vulnerable persons

16 March 2023 Strasbourg

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...

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Belgium strengthens the protection of detainees through a new right of complaint

22 December 2022 Strasbourg

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...

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Iceland: Supreme Court quashes applicants’ convictions and new law prevents new violations of the ne bis in idem principle

15 December 2022 Strasbourg

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...

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Norway enhances legal framework concerning police search and seizure of data protected by legal professional privilege

18 November 2022 Strasbourg

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...

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Lithuania: Constitutional amendment implementing ECHR judgment

26 September 2022

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...

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Romania : Introduction of a remedy with automatic suspensive effect against expulsion after criminal conviction

9 August 2022

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...

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Ukraine reinforces safeguards against domestic and gender-based violence

5 August 2022

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...

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State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina aligns procedures with ECHR judgment concerning equality of arms

27 July 2022

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...

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