News Clips – June 1, 2010

Protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights enters into force today, introducing a number of changes to decrease the Court’s backlog, strengthen enforcement in order to reduce repetitive applications, concentrate its efforts on cases where applicants have suffered a “significant disadvantage”, and allow the European Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene as a third party [ECHR] Amnesty International

Read more

New ECHR Decisions on Freedom of Expression in France

This week the European Court of Human Rights published its decisions in, among others, three cases related to freedom of expression in France: Le Pen v. France, Fleury v. France and Brunet Lecomte and Lyon Mag v. France.  All three deal with civil or criminal penalties imposed on individuals for published statements regarding other individuals or groups.  The Court found no violation in

Read more

ECHR Reviews Disappearance, Private and Family Life, and Freedom of Expression in Recent Judgments

The European Court of Human Rights issued a number of decisions this week and last against a number of States, including Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Albania, Romania, Italy, Serbia and the United Kingdom. Several of these recent judgments involved individuals who had been internally displaced by conflict or unrest, while others involved rights protected by Article 8 of the Convention (pertaining

Read more

This Week at the ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights issued Chamber judgments in a diverse group of cases this week, finding: Russia responsible for violating, inter alia, article 6.2 (presumption of innocence) for a politician’s public comments about a defendant who had been criminally charged with rape and was pending trial at the time (Kuzmin v. Russia); Moldova responsible for violating article 2

Read more

ECHR Finds Violation in British Transfer of Detainees to Iraqi Custody

Last Wednesday, the European Court of Human Rights issued its decision in Al-Saadoon & Mufdhi v. the United Kingdom, finding that the U.K. had violated its international human rights obligations when it transferred two Iraqi nationals to Iraqi custody because there was a real risk they would face the death penalty.  See the press release and judgment. The application was

Read more

The Week's News

Human Rights Conditions *       President Bachelet declares state of catastrophe following powerful earthquake in Chile. [Washington Post] *       Interim government organized following Niger coup. [BBC] *       Ceasefire signed in Sudan. [Guardian] *       Waterboarding defended by former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. [New York Times] *       Russia pushed for details on investigation of Chechen human rights defender’s murder in July

Read more