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Life imprisonment is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, as long as prisoners have some chance of being released and it is possible for their sentences to be reviewed. According to the European Court of Human Rights, national laws concerning life imprisonment must be sufficiently clear and certain. Prisoners should also know from the outset what they must do to be considered for release, and under what conditions. The Council of Europe’s  Department for the Execution of ECHR Judgments  has published a new factsheet on cases concerning life imprisonment. The factsheet summarises steps taken by nine member states on this issue in response to 20 different judgments from the European Court of Human Rights. It covers a number of specific issues relating to life sentences, including review mechanisms, conditions of detention and the risk of irreducible life sentences in extradition cases. This is the latest in a series of  thematic factsheet...

The  European Law Institute (ELI) Legislative Proposal provides guidance on future EU legislative action in the field. It aims at harmonising approaches in EU Member States and, through it, enhancing the principle of mutual recognition in criminal matters and the protection of human rights of suspects and accused. At present, each EU Member State follows its own rules on criminal investigative measures for evidence gathering, resulting in different standards for its admissibility. When such evidence, including electronic evidence, is to be shared with other EU Member States, a clear mechanism governing its admissibility is needed. While there have already been a number of helpful studies on the admissibility of evidence in criminal proceedings and the need for more harmonisation at EU level as well as important advances in European judicial cooperation, these initiatives have so far not comprehensively addressed the rules that should be adopted regarding the mutual admissibilit...

In Grand Chamber judgment (15.5.2023) in the case of Sanchez v. France (application no. 45581/15) the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority, that there had been no violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  The application concerned the criminal conviction of the applicant, at the time a local councillor who was standing for election to Parliament, for the offence of incitement to hatred or violence against a group or an individual on grounds of religion, following his failure to take prompt action to delete comments posted by third parties on the “wall” of his Facebook account.  The applicant alleged that his conviction had breached his right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention. The criminal case had turned solely on the applicant’s lack of vigilance and failure to react in respect of comments posted by others. It had thus raised the question of the shared liability of the various actors in...

According to Judgment of the Court of Justice of the E.U. in Case C-817/21 (11.5.2023), the body in charge of disciplinary proceedings against judges must be independent and impartial. The rules governing the review of the actions of its director must be designed in such a way as to dispel any reasonable doubt in that respect. In Romania, a party in several criminal proceedings filed a number of disciplinary complaints with the competent Judicial Inspectorate against certain judges and prosecutors involved. Since all of those complaints were the subject of decisions to take no further action, that party lodged a complaint against the Chief Inspector, in respect of which it was also decided to take no further action.  She then turned to the Court of Appeal, Bucharest, Romania, to challenge those decisions to take no further action, claiming, inter alia, that it is impossible to bring disciplinary proceedings on account of the concentration of powers in the hands of the Chief Inspect...

European Data Protection Board (EDPB) refused to grant full public access to draft versions of its statement on international agreements including transfers. The European   Ombudsman was not convinced by the reasons put forward by the EDPB to refuse access. The complainant asked the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for public access to draft versions of its statement on international agreements including data transfers. Following a separate Ombudsman inquiry, the EDPB identified additional documents as falling under the complainant's request, however it refused access to these documents. In doing so, it invoked an exception provided for in the EU legislation on public access to documents, arguing that disclosure could undermine the decision-making process. Based on an inspection of the documents, the Ombudsman was not convinced by the reasons put forward by the EDPB to refuse access, and proposed as a solution that the EDPB reassess the request and reconsider its decision to...

According to the ECJ's Judgment (2.3.2023) in Case C-477/21 (MÁV-START), daily rest is additional to weekly rest even when it directly precedes the latter. This is also the case when national legislation grants workers a period of weekly rest greater than that required by EU law. A train driver employed by MÁV-START, the Hungarian national railway company, challenges before the Miskolc Regional Court the decision of his employer not to grant him a daily rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours (which the worker must be granted during each 24-hour period under the Working Time Directive) when that period precedes or follows a weekly rest period or a period of leave.  MÁV-START claims before the court that since the collective agreement applicable to the case grants a minimum weekly rest period (of at least 42 hours) that is well in excess of that required by the Directive (24 hours), its employee is not in any way disadvantaged by its decision. The Miskolc Regional Court asks th...

In Chamber's judgment (23.3.2023) in the case of Udovychenko v. Ukraine (application no. 46396/14) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the consequences for an eyewitness to a road accident of telling a journalist that she had seen the son of B., a former member of parliament, getting out of the driver’s side of the car.  In the proceedings brought against her by B. and his son accusing her of making a false statement to the media, she was required to prove what she had said. In the absence of proof, the Ukrainian courts found that her statement had been untrue and had damaged the honour, dignity and reputation of B. and his son. She was ordered to retract her statement and to pay damages.  The Court found that for the applicant to prove what she believed she had seen with her own eyes, as required by the national courts, wo...

Science and Judicial Reasoning - The legitimacy of international environmental adjudication (Sulyok Katalin / 2022).  Science, which inevitably underlies environmental disputes, poses significant challenges for the scientifically untrained judges who decide such cases.  In addition to disrupting ordinary fact-finding and causal inquiry, science can impact the framing of disputes and the standard of review. Judges must therefore adopt various tools to adjust the level of science allowed to enter their deliberations, which may fundamentally impact the legitimacy of their reasoning. While neglecting or replacing scientific authority can erode the convincing nature of judicial reasoning, the same authority, when treated properly, may lend persuasive force to adjudicatory findings, and buttress the legitimacy of judgments. In this work, Katalin Sulyok surveys the environmental case law of seven major jurisdictions and analyzes framing techniques, evidentiary procedures, causal inqu...

By Giorgos Kazoleas, Lawyer Truth and trial are two concepts that seem to follow opposite paths, despite the fact that the former should be the purpose of the latter and despite the fact that the invocation of the truth during the trial is continuous and repeated.  In both civil and criminal trials the competition between the participants in the process is usually focused on distorting and misrepresenting the truth in order to make it convenient and ultimately accepted by the final arbiter, who is the judge. Witnesses are mostly prepared, if not «fabricated», to testify to what each party wishes to be proven. The truth in their testimony often seems to be lost or degraded in details which, however, are decisive for the needs of the trial. A deviation in the minute of time can affect the verdict, an omission of a seemingly insignificant fact can overturn a judicial conviction. Lawyers are masters at constructing the truth that is favorable each time, the version that will facili...

By Konstantina Kotsaki MSc, Forensic Phychology* Based on 2012 evidence more than 200.000 of 700.000 incarcerated women were held in USA prisons [1]. The USA has the highest number of incarcerated women compared to international imprisoned women [1]. It reached circa 1/3 of global women kept in prison [1]. The psychic disorders - mainly depression and anxiety - accompany pregnancy even in nonincarcerated cases [2-5]. Therefore, the presence of psychic abnormalities during pregnancy is predictable and unavoidable. Contrary to that, the development of these disorders depends on many variables, is unpredictable and avoidable. A vulnerable psychic state comprises a criminal’s characteristic feature [6]. It gets clear that the incarcerated women experience psychic abnormalities before beginning their sentence in prison.  Thus, when transferred to prison many women had already initiated to experience grave psychic disorders [7]. No health care service was available to many women before i...

By Konstantina Kotsaki MSc, Forensic Phychology  The permanent scope of courts has been to detect the truth and the lie, because they comprise the hallmark of justice. The last more reliable lie-detection tool before fMRI was the polygraph. fMRI was proved to be a more reliable tool, compared to a polygraph, to evaluate the claims of somebody as true or deceptive. Yet, it could detect false memory and if this memory leads to a lie or is restored. Its accuracy and reliability were proved through abundant scientific studies, and the scientific community has approved fMRI as a reliable lie-detection machine. Furthermore, fMRI could evaluate the psychopathic level of someone. The prejudices that the fMRI recordings were just images could not stand up. Either the countermeasures could not jolt the fMRI accuracy.  Since the beginning, neither the fact that its feedback did not cover all the American Supreme Court parameters to be accepted as court evidence nor the fear that the just...

According to ECJ's Judgment (12/1/2023) in Case C-154/21 (Österreichische Post), every person has the right to know to whom his or her personal data have been disclosed. Nevertheless, the controller may indicate only the categories of recipient if it is impossible to identify the recipients or the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.  A citizen requested Österreichische Post, the principal operator of postal and logistical services in Austria, to disclose to him the identity of the recipients to whom it had disclosed his personal data. He relied on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). That regulation provides that the data subject has the right to obtain from the controller information about the recipients or categories of recipient to whom his or her personal data have been or will be disclosed.  In response to the citizen’s request, Österreichische Post merely stated that it uses personal data, to the extent permissible by law, in the course of its acti...

The Data Protection Commission of Ireland imposed a fine of 5.5 million euros on WhatsApp for breaches of the GDPR relating to its service. The Commission’s announcement states the following: “The Data Protection Commission (“DPC”) has today announced the conclusion of an inquiry into the processing carried out by WhatsApp Ireland Limited (“WhatsApp Ireland”) in connection with the delivery of its WhatsApp service, in which it has fined WhatsApp Ireland €5.5 million (for breaches of the GDPR relating to its service). WhatsApp Ireland has also been directed to bring its data processing operations into compliance within a period of six months. The inquiry concerned a complaint made on 25 May, 2018 by a German data subject about the WhatsApp service. In advance of 25 May 2018, the date on which the GDPR came into operation, WhatsApp Ireland updated its Terms of Service, and informed users that if they wished to continue to have access to the WhatsApp service following the introduction...

According to the Judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case C-694/20  (Orde van Vlaamse Balies and Others) regarding the combat against tax avoidance, the obligation for a lawyer to inform other intermediaries involved is not necessary and infringes the right to respect for communications with his or her client . All the other intermediaries involved in such planning, and the taxpayer him- or herself, are subject to that reporting obligation, which makes it possible to ensure that the tax authorities are informed. An EU Directive [1] provides that all intermediaries involved in potentially aggressive cross-border tax-planning (arrangements which could lead to tax avoidance and evasion) are required to report them to the competent tax authorities. That obligation concerns all those who participate in the design, marketing, organisation or management of the implementation of that planning. All those who provide assistance or advice in relation to that planning, or in the ...

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published its  Opinion on a proposed Regulation laying down cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements .  Concretely, the proposed Regulation aims to set out EU-wide cybersecurity requirements for a broad range of hardware and software products and their remote data processing solutions. These include, for example, browsers, operating systems, firewalls, network management systems, smart meters or routers. Wojciech Wiewiórowski, EDPS, said:  “The cybersecurity of products with digital elements is of utmost importance to protect effectively individuals’ fundamental rights in the digital age, including their rights to privacy and data protection. Harmonised cybersecurity requirements across the EU should reduce the risks for Europeans of being victims of cyber-attacks and of the vast consequences that these may entail, such as the theft and misuse of their personal data.” In its Opinion, the EDPS reiterat...

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition by Booking Holdings (‘Booking') of Flugo Group Holdings AB, that operates under the trading name ‘eTraveli'.  The Commission is concerned that the proposed acquisition would allow Booking to strengthen its position on the market for accommodation online travel agencies (OTAs). Booking and eTraveli are both active in the provision of OTA services, respectively focusing on accommodation OTA and flight OTA services. Booking is also active in the market of metasearch services (MSS) mainly through its price comparison platform KAYAK. The Commission's preliminary investigation indicates that Booking may have a dominant position on the market for the provision of accommodation OTA services and that the transaction may significantly reduce competition in this market by combining eTraveli's activities in flight OTA services with Booking's own s...

The European Court of Human Rights has accepted a request for an advisory opinion under Protocol No. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights received from the Supreme Court of Finland on 10 October 2022.  In its request, the Supreme Court of Finland has asked the European Court of Human Rights to provide an advisory opinion on the procedural rights of a biological mother in proceedings concerning the adoption of her adult child.  The request will be dealt with by the Grand Chamber, comprising 17 judges, which will be constituted in accordance with Rule 24 § 2 (g) of the Rules of Court. The President of the Grand Chamber has also established a time frame for submissions from the parties to the domestic proceedings or any other interested party. Protocol No. 16 enables member States’ highest national courts and tribunals to ask the Court to give advisory opinions on questions of principle relating to the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms defined in t...

By Evlampia Tsolaki, Lawyer* I. Τhe concept of strike  Irrespective of the regulations composing a national legal order’s framework of industrial relations, in western world at their center of gravity is posed the right to strike as it constitutes the highest manifestation of employees’ organized struggle directed to the assertion of their rights’ enhancement concerning their employment and in general financial conditions. By this means, in practical terms, the individual power of employees is channeled and pooled in the competent trade unions in order to collectively attain a better level of terms for their job positions through the united race against the employers’ omnipotence. In this vein, strike is popularly conceptualized in a lato sensu, namely more loose, meaning, in other words as it is commonly understood by a layman’s perception.  In strictly legal terms, strike is called [1]  the partial or total abstention of employees from the provision of the services owne...