European Court of Human Rights

How do you bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights?

If you believe that fundamental rights and guarantees provided by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) have been violated, you may apply to the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, France. In an interview, however, the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Lozan Panov, considered it too risky to pursue proceedings against the State without engaging a lawyer. Court proceedings may be initiated by lodging an application within six months of the decision of the final judicial instance in the EU Member State. Once this period has expired, the opportunity to seek judicial protection is precluded because the Court will not accept the lodged application for examination. Bringing proceedings against the State, represented by state authorities and the state administration, or against municipalities, for damage caused by acts or omissions of their employees is accessible in terms of the amount of the fee: BGN 10 for individuals and BGN 50 for legal entities. The rationale is that everyone whose rights protected by the Convention (ECHR) have been infringed should have access to justice and redress for the pecuniary and/or non-pecuniary damage suffered.

Bringing proceedings against the State requires compliance with a number of formalities and mandatory particulars familiar to practising lawyers and legal professionals. Disregarding them could lead to serious financial losses, because the party that loses the court dispute must bear not only its own costs, such as fees and other expenses (for example, an expert report), but also the litigation costs incurred by the procedural representative of the defendant, namely the state authority or municipality. Citizens in financial hardship may request exemption from the state fee and may use a court-appointed lawyer under the Legal Aid Act.

The state administration, through its employees, does indeed commit numerous breaches of law and omissions that may constitute valid grounds for the State to pay compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage caused. However, the need for the relevant state entity acting as defendant to include such an item in its budget for the following year delays the actual receipt of the awarded compensation. This does not mean that the injured party, whether an individual or a legal entity, will be left only with the judgment in their hands. Patience is required, although, in the words of Lozan Panov, these are ordinary civil-law relations and the State should be treated as a commercial company against which a judgment has been delivered and a writ of execution issued.

If you have decided to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, you should know the following:

The application must be submitted in Bulgarian and must contain the following particulars:
● the applicant’s full name, date of birth, nationality, sex, occupation and address;
● the name, occupation and address of the representative, if the application is lodged by a lawyer;
● the State party to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms against which the application is directed;
● a concise statement of the facts;
● identification of the rights guaranteed by the ECHR that have been violated;
● a description of all domestic remedies used to protect the violated rights, including the date of each decision of a court or other administrative authority that ruled on the subject matter of the application;
● a statement of the relief sought, including the amount of compensation claimed.

The Court does not accept anonymous applications. If you do not want your identity to be disclosed, you must inform the Court immediately and provide valid reasons. In that case you must still state your name, but request that it not be disclosed and set out the relevant reasons. An application may be sent by post or fax to:

European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Fax: +33 (0)3 88 41 27 30

If you wish to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, it is best to contact a qualified lawyer who can advise you on how the application should be structured and provide the necessary legal assistance in connection with the infringement of your rights.