User:Igny/case1
| Ždanoka v. Latvia | |
|---|---|
| Court | European Court of Human Rights |
| Decided | 17 June 2004 (first ruling) 16 March 2006 (appeal) |
| Citation | 58278/00 |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | Christos Rozakis (Greek), President, Peer Lorenzen (Danish), Giovanni Bonello (Maltese), Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), Egil Levits (Latvian), Anatoli Kovler (Russian), Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italian) |
Ždanoka v. Latvia was a 2004 court case involving Tatjana Ždanoka and Latvia.
In 2004 the Court held by five votes to two
- that there had been a violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (right to free elections);
- that there had been a violation of Article 11 of the Convention (freedom of assembly and association); and
- that it was not necessary to examine separately a complaint under Article 10 of the Convention (freedom of expression).
Under Article 41 of the Convention (just satisfaction), the Court awarded the applicant, by five votes to two, 2,236.50 Latvian lati (approximately 3,421 euros (EUR)) for pecuniary damage, EUR 10,000 for non-pecuniary damage and EUR 10,000 for costs and expenses.
Latvia appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that Latvia's emergence from totalitarian rule brought about by the annexation of Latvia had not been sufficiently taken into account, and on March 16, 2006, the court ruled 13-4 that Ždanoka's rights had not been violated. The Grand Chamber of the Court made the following statement (paragraph 119 of its judgment):
Latvia, together with the other Baltic States, lost its independence in 1940 in the aftermath of the partition of central and eastern Europe agreed by Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union by way of the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an agreement contrary to the generally recognised principles of international law. The ensuing annexation of Latvia by the Soviet Union was orchestrated and conducted under the authority of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the Communist Party of Latvia (CPL) being a satellite branch of the CPSU.