Protection of rights in the European Court of Human Rights

In practice, there are often situations when a person (physical or legal) defends in court its violated rights, but the courts of all instances refuse to protect them for one reason or another.

In such cases, the question arises: “What to do next?”

If a person believes that a state national court has failed to respect fundamental rights and freedoms in the handling of a case, resulting in a negative judgment, and the higher courts have not corrected such miscarriages of justice, one possible avenue of defense is to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR ).

This right is provided for by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights) and its protocols (hereinafter referred to as the Convention).

In this regard, a resident of any country that has acceded to this Convention, as well as any other person under the jurisdiction of such a country, may appeal to the European Court of Human Rights with a statement against a state that has acceded to this Convention, which has committed a violation of the rights guaranteed by it.

Currently, the Convention has been ratified by member countries of the Council of Europe, in particular: Belgium (1949), Denmark (1949), Ireland (1949), Italy (1949), Luxembourg (1949), the Netherlands (1949), Norway (1949), Great Britain (1949), France (1949), Sweden (1949), Greece (1949), Turkey (1950), Iceland (1950), Germany (1950), Austria (1956), Cyprus (1961), Switzerland (1963), Malta ( 1965), Portugal (1976), Spain (1977), Liechtenstein (1978), San Marino (1988), Finland (1989), Hungary (1990), Poland (1991), Bulgaria (1992), Estonia (1993), Lithuania (1993), Slovenia (1993), Slovak Republic (1993), Romania (1993), Czech Republic (1993), Andorra (1994), Latvia (1995), Albania (1995), Moldova (1995), Ukraine (1995), Republic of North Macedonia (1995), Croatia (1996), Georgia (1999), Azerbaijan (2001), Armenia (2001), Bosnia-Herzegovina (2002), Serbia (2003), Monaco (2004), Montenegro (2007).

The main rights guaranteed by the Convention, the protection of which is carried out by the ECHR, include:

• the right to live;
• prohibition of torture, slavery and forced labor;
• the right to liberty and security of person;
• right to a fair trial; the right to an effective remedy;
• the right to respect for private and family life;
• the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, expression of opinions; the right to freedom of assembly and association;
• prohibition of discrimination;
• ownership;
• right to education;
• right to free elections.

It is important to know that an appeal to the ECHR is only possible after exhaustion of all national remedies within four months of the final decision at the national level.

A complaint to the European Court of Human Rights is submitted in the form of an application, which is completed by filling out a form in the prescribed form.

The complaint form to the European Court of Human Rights provides, in addition to indicating the personal data of the applicant and his representative (if any), also a statement of the essence of the violated Convention right, the circumstances under which this violation arose and the appropriate legal justification with reference to the provisions of the Convention with the obligatory indication of the what exactly is the violation of a particular norm, as well as information about the use of national remedies.

A complaint (application) to the ECHR can be drawn up in the language of the applicant or in one of the languages ​​of the ECHR – English or French. The complaint must be accompanied by copies of all documents referred to by the applicant, as well as all decisions of national authorities to consider the applicant’s issue at the national level.

It is important to understand that the ECHR does not replace national judicial bodies, is not an additional judicial authority, and therefore does not review court decisions on the merits. At the same time, the ECtHR is considering whether the national judicial authorities violated the Convention when considering the applicant’s case at the national level. That is, the ECHR considers cases of violation by the state of the applicant’s Convention rights.

The consequences of considering a complaint by the ECHR are usually established by the national legislation of the country against which the decision was made. In fact, this could be: payment of compensation; restoration, as far as possible, of the previous legal position that the person had before the violation of the Convention by re-examination of the case by a court, including the resumption of proceedings or re-examination of the case by an administrative authority; activities specifically noted in the ECtHR decision.

Moreover, if the national legislation of the respondent country provides only partial compensation, then the ECHR, if necessary, provides the injured party with fair satisfaction (finding a violation of the Convention, awarding the applicant moral compensation in monetary equivalent).

The implementation of ECHR decisions is also carried out in the manner established by the national legislation of a particular country party to the Convention, but control over the implementation of the decision is carried out by the Committee of Ministers, which, if facts of non-compliance with the ECHR decision are revealed, applies to the Court with a corresponding petition and then determines measures to implement the decision.

Thus, an appeal to the ECHR in a number of cases is an effective measure aimed at eliminating violations of individual rights committed by national judicial authorities, on the one hand, and a way to achieve adequate compensation for such violations, on the other.

However, it should be borne in mind that a complaint to the European Court requires specific knowledge and experience, therefore, the preparation of the corresponding complaint should be treated carefully in order to take into account all possible nuances of a particular case and avoid violations of the relevant procedure. For this purpose, you can contact a lawyer who has experience in handling cases in the ECHR and who can provide professional legal assistance in this case.

Conducting a case in the ECHR involves, among other things, drawing up and filing a complaint with the European Court, supporting the case with a lawyer in the European Court of Human Rights at all its stages, including the stage of execution of the decision, official correspondence with the representative bodies of the defendant to resolve the dispute, etc.

The international law firm Grandliga has experienced lawyers who practice in the relevant field and will be able to provide legal defense of both an advisory nature and practical representation and conduct of the case in the ECHR.

If you have any questions or need a lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights (Lawyer at the ECHR), please contact us to discuss your case.

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