In 1953, a new body appeared in world judicial practice, which later became the European Court of Justice. Its jurisdiction was based on the European Convention on Human Rights. She proclaimed fundamental human rights and freedoms. What was the European Court of Human Rights before, and what has become today, we will consider in the article.
History of occurrence
Initially, the Convention was protected by three bodies, which included the Committee of Ministers, the Commission of the Court and the European Court of Human Rights and the Secretariat as a subsidiary body.
The Convention was signed by 47 member countries, and therefore the main task of the above-mentioned bodies was to monitor how its norms are respected. This problem is solved by considering and resolving complaints that can file:
- individuals
- group of persons;
- non-governmental organizations;
- member countries.
Initially, the complaints were examined by the Commission, and with a positive decision, the case was referred to the European Court of Human Rights, where the final decision was made. In case of a negative outcome, the Committee of Ministers was engaged in the consideration of the case.
In 1994, the system changed, and the complaints with a positive outcome were forwarded by the applicants to the court.
In 1998, the structure also changed - the European Court of Human Rights and the Commission were merged into one body.
Jurisdiction
Despite the fact that 47 countries have signed the Convention, the European Court of Human Affairs is not the highest court for them. Therefore, he:
- does not cancel the court decision that has already been taken by the national court or other state authority of the participating country;
- does not give directions to legislative bodies;
- does not exercise control over national legislation and bodies that control them;
- does not order measures with legal consequences.
The European Court in accordance with its competences:
- considers a complaint about a violation of law;
- awards the losing party to compensate the winning party, in the form of monetary compensation, material damage, non-pecuniary damage and costs of litigation.
Long-term practice of the court does not know cases of non-enforcement of its decisions. This is partly due to the fact that non-compliance may lead to suspension of membership and expulsion from the European Council. The execution of court decisions is controlled by the Committee of Ministers.
What is the competence of the European court?
Since the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice is based on the Convention, the competence comes from it. So she can:
- interpret the Convention and earlier decisions at the request of the Committee of Ministers, and give advisory opinions not related to the consideration of cases;
- consider both individual and collective interstate complaints directed against the countries of the European Union and the Council of Europe;
- recognize the fact of violation of the applicant’s rights and award her, in case of winning, compensation;
- establish the fact of violation of law in the country as a mass phenomenon and oblige it to eliminate the deficiency.
Structure and composition
The judiciary consists of 47 people - according to the composition of the countries that signed the document. Each judge is elected for 9 years and cannot be re-elected.
The election of a judge is a function of the Parliamentary Assembly, which selects one of the three candidates from the list submitted by the participating country.
The staff of the Secretariat includes 679 people, among employees 62 - citizens of Russia. Along with administrative and technical staff, lawyers and translators also work.
The history of Russia in the European Court.
The Russian Federation signed the Convention in 1998 on May 5. Until this date and to date, the Constitutional Court has dealt with human rights in the Russian Federation. The European Court has a number of differences from it. Which ones?
The European Court acts according to the Convention, and the Constitutional according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The courts have various regulatory bodies - the European Court of Ethnicity, and the Constitutional - national.
According to the Constitutional Court, acts recognized as unconstitutional, or their individual provisions, must be amended in accordance with federal law. The European Court, on the contrary, cannot change the decisions taken by the national court; this does not comply with the Convention.
But, despite the differences, none of these vessels is higher than the other.
The first judge from Russia was Anatoly Kovler (1998-2012). He was replaced by Dmitry Dedov, who is the judge to the present.
According to statistics, Russia ranks first in the number of complaints submitted to the European Court.
Of the 862 Russian cases examined before 2010, 815 were found to be irregular. The court ordered the adoption of general measures, which led to changes in the penal structure. Currently, some aspects of legal proceedings are subject to reform.
But this does not mean that the Russian Federation transferred to the European Court a part of sovereignty. Therefore, Russia will not execute decisions that run counter to its Constitution.
Complaint Terms
The complaint submitted to the European Court must comply with the following conditions:
- its subject may be only the rights and freedoms specified in the Convention and its Protocols;
- plaintiffs may be individuals, a group of persons, non-governmental organizations ;
- in the application, the plaintiff must indicate the articles of the Convention according to which his rights and freedoms and his personal data are violated: full name, date of birth, place of residence and occupation;
- the complaint will be considered if it is directed against the country that has ratified the Convention and the Protocols, and the events described in the declaration occurred after ratification;
- the defendant may not be a private person or organization;
- the deadline for filing a complaint should not exceed 6 months after consideration by the competent authority;
- the specified period is interrupted upon admission to the European Court after the first written request or the completed form by the applicant;
- A complaint is considered admissible if the applicant has exhausted the available domestic remedies.
The case of the European Court is considered from 3 to 5 years.
Where to send the complaint?
If the application meets all the specified requirements, then it should be completed on the form. It can be downloaded along with the Instructions for completing c echr.coe.int.
The form must be printed, filled out and sent to the European Court of Human Rights at the address below.
The document should contain the following information:
- Name, date of birth, citizenship and address of the plaintiff;
- name of the Party or Parties against which the complaint is filed;
- concise and clear statement of facts, alleged violations or violations of clauses of the Convention and their argumentation, as well as a statement on compliance with the conditions of admissibility.
If there is a representative, then in the form you must specify:
- his full name, address, phone number, fax and email address;
- date and signature of the applicant.
A correctly filed complaint is sent to the address below.
Whatever the judgment of the Court, the applicant will be notified of its decision by letter.