A lawyer who was fined after telling a joke in court suffered a violation of his right to freedom of expression, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. Mirko Simic, a lawyer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, told the joke – about a professor who expected his students to provide not onl
Echr
Human rights laws are an impediment to the Scottish government's ability to ban protests outside of abortion clinics, Nicola Sturgeon has said. Ms Sturgeon said progress was being stalled on introducing a 150m buffer zone outside clinics to keep keep anti-abortion campaigners away from women using t
Human rights protections are at risk from the UK government’s proposals to replace the Human Right Act, according to a new evidence report submitted to the United Nations (UN) by the Scottish Human Rights Commission. In its “report card” to the UN’s latest Universal
Italy violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights after it failed to protect a woman and her children, one of whom was murdered by the applicant's partner. Ms Landi alleged that the Italian state had failed to take the requisite action to protect her and her two children from the d
Taking away the rights of terrorists to automatic early release from prison threatens their human rights, new analysis argues. The government made emergency changes to sentencing law including ending the automatic early release of terrorist offenders at the halfway point of qualifying custodial sent
Russia is no longer a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, having withdrawn from the Council of Europe before an expected expulsion over its invasion of Ukraine. The decision was announced hours before a vote at the CoE's assembly yesterday. Russia accused Western countries of undermini
Terra Firma Chambers’ Fred Mackintosh QC and Aidan O’Neil QC of Ampersand Advocates have successfully represented the appellant in an appeal before the Supreme Court against the decision of the Scottish ministers to extradite him to the US. The Supreme Court decided that the extradition
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has dismissed a case brought against the UK by the sister of an IRA volunteer who was shot dead by British soldiers in 1990, despite identifying certain weaknesses in a 2012 inquest. In a unanimous ruling handed down this morning, the court said it was stil
A media company that published an article based on a confidential letter about the subject of a criminal investigation and refused to remove it has had its freedom of expression of appeal unanimously dismissed by justices in the Supreme Court. The court held that, in general, a person
As of yesterday, the time limit for submitting an application to the European Court of Human Rights is four months, reduced from six.
A former tennis player who claimed a newspaper had defamed him in a story that mentioned his tax affairs has failed in his Article 8 appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. The court found that as the newspaper article had been a mixture of value judgment and supported factual statements, it h
A Romanian politician given a suspended sentence for abuse of authority who challenged the judgment on the basis two of the judges had not signed it and had retired before its reasoning was finalised has failed in his Article 6 appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. In its decision in the cas
Disabled voters can lawfully be required to enter polling places through a back entrance, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. In a "disappointing" ruling yesterday, the court said polling places and election procedures in Europe need to be accessible for disabled people, but access
Bulgaria violated the Article 10 freedom of expression right of a judge who was critical of the government, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. The case concerned two sets of disciplinary proceedings against the applicant, Miroslava Todorova, who had been a judge and the president
Applicants who alleged they had been deprived of their right of access to a court suffered no ECHR violations after Belgium declined to hear their tort case against the Holy See, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.