“The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has received hundreds of requests concerning the management of the pandemic”, announced its president, Icelandic judge Robert Spano, during the presentation of the ECHR’s 2020 annual report on Thursday 28 November.
“Approximately 300 of these requests (often related to arrests for breach of lockdown) resulted in interim measures. The others, such as bans on demonstrations, will be dealt with as a matter of priority in the coming months, as they raise new issues”. “The current delays are unacceptable when it comes to such important issues”, added Spano.
In 2020, despite the pandemic, the Court continued its activities by making extensive use of new communication technologies and accepting an extension of its referral deadlines. It ruled in more than 31,190 cases, down 4% on 2019, but posted 556 Grand Chamber judgments (the most complex), 22% more than the previous year.
As regards pending cases, the Court has increased from 59,800 in 2019 to 62,000 at the end of 2020. 70% of them concern 4 countries: the Russian Federation (13,650 applications), the “biggest provider of cases”, Turkey (11,750), Ukraine (10,400) and Romania (7,550). For Turkey the increase is 27% compared to 2019, which is explained in particular by the fact that the trials related to the failed coup of 2016 have reached the end of the national appeal procedures.
To see the ECHR 2020 Review: https://bit.ly/3ahUVNU (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)