Guide to Applying to the European Court of Human Rights

The application is made by the person whose Convention right was violated

Article 34 of the Convention grants the right of application to any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by a State Party of the rights set forth in the Convention or its protocols. States Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.

The applicant shows that the measure complained of affects him or her directly. The rights most often relied on in criminal and human rights cases are the right to life (Art. 2), the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment (Art. 3), the right to liberty and security (Art. 5), the right to a fair trial (Art. 6), the right to respect for private and family life (Art. 8), freedom of expression (Art. 10), freedom of assembly and association (Art. 11), the right to an effective remedy (Art. 13) and the right to property (Protocol No. 1, Art. 1).

The Court reviews whether the State has complied with its obligations under the Convention. The applicant therefore bases the complaint not on the outcome of the domestic decision but on which Convention guarantee was breached and how. The complaints raised before the Constitutional Court usually concern the same rights, so the two applications are best prepared together.

The Court first examines whether the application is admissible

Article 35 of the Convention lists the admissibility conditions. The table below shows each condition and its basis:

The Court may reject applications that do not meet these conditions at any stage of the proceedings (Art. 35/4). An inadmissibility decision by the Constitutional Court for lateness or non-exhaustion raises the objection before the ECtHR that domestic remedies were not properly exhausted. This relationship is explained in the article on admissibility requirements, and the calculation of the four-month time limit in the article on the ECtHR time limit; both are in Turkish.

The application is made on the Court's form and sent by post

The applicant uses the official application form provided by the Registry and gives all the information requested in the relevant parts of the form (Rules of Court, Rule 47 § 1). The form sets out:

• The applicant's name, date of birth, nationality and address; for legal persons, the full name, date of incorporation, registration number and address
• The representative's contact details, if any, and the authority section bearing the original signatures of both the applicant and the representative
• The State against which the application is made
• A concise and legible statement of the facts
• The alleged violations and the relevant arguments
• A concise statement confirming that the applicant has exhausted domestic remedies and complied with the four-month time limit

The form must be clear enough for the Court to determine the nature and scope of the application without recourse to any other document. The applicant may append further details on the facts and alleged violations, which may not exceed 20 pages (Rule 47 § 2). Copies of the decisions and measures complained of, and documents showing exhaustion and compliance with the time limit, are enclosed, listed in date order and numbered (Rule 47 §§ 3.1–3.2).

Applications may be made only by post. Because the Court needs the original signed form, a form sent by fax does not count as a complete application. The date of introduction is the date on which a form meeting the requirements of Rule 47 is sent, as shown by the postmark (Rule 47 § 6-a). An incomplete form does not stop the clock; the Court does not examine an incomplete application (Rule 47 § 5.1).

The applicant may fill in the form in Turkish. Until the application has been communicated to the Government, the applicant may correspond with the Court in an official language of one of the States Parties (Rule 34 § 2). The applicant may initially lodge the application personally; after it has been communicated to the Government, the applicant should as a rule be represented by an advocate authorised to practise in one of the States Parties (Rule 36 §§ 1–2 and 4). The Court charges no fee for an application.

Depending on the case, a single judge, a committee or a chamber examines the application

The Court assigns each application to a judicial formation according to its nature. The table below shows these formations and the effect of their decisions:

A chamber may decide on admissibility and merits together, and may also take a separate admissibility decision (Art. 29/1). The Court gives notice of an application requiring further examination to the respondent State and invites the Government to submit written observations; it then invites the applicant to reply (Rule 54 § 2-b). From that stage, the applicant is represented by an advocate unless the President of the Chamber decides otherwise (Rule 36 § 2). Once the Government's observations on admissibility have been received, or the time limit for them has expired, the Court may grant legal aid to an applicant who cannot meet the costs (Rules 105–106).

The Court deals with applications in an order of priority based on the importance and urgency of the issues raised; the Chamber or its President may give priority to a particular application (Rule 41). The Convention sets no time limit for a decision; the length of the proceedings depends on the priority of the application and the formation dealing with it.

Where there is a risk of irreparable harm, the Court may indicate an interim measure

In exceptional circumstances, the Court may indicate an interim measure to the parties at the request of a party or any other person concerned, or of its own motion. Interim measures apply where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm that, by its nature, could not be repaired, restored or adequately compensated (Rule 39 § 1). Expulsion cases in which removal would put a person's life or physical integrity at serious risk are the main field of application. The applicant sends the request without delay, together with documents showing the risk and the domestic decision.

At any stage of the proceedings, the Court may help the parties reach a friendly settlement. Friendly-settlement negotiations are confidential; if a settlement is reached, the Court strikes the application out and the Committee of Ministers supervises its execution (Art. 39). If the applicant refuses a friendly-settlement proposal, the Government may ask the Court to strike the application out on the basis of a unilateral declaration clearly acknowledging the violation and undertaking to provide adequate redress (Rule 62A).

A final judgment binds the State and may lead to a retrial in Türkiye

If the Court finds a violation and domestic law allows only partial reparation, it awards just satisfaction to the injured party (Art. 41). States Parties undertake to abide by final judgments, and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises their execution (Art. 46). Chamber judgments become final if no referral to the Grand Chamber is requested within three months of delivery; committee judgments are final on delivery (Arts. 28/2 and 44).

If the Committee of Ministers finds that supervision is hindered by a problem of interpretation, it may refer the question to the Court. If it considers that a State refuses to abide by a final judgment, it may, after serving formal notice on that State, refer the question to the Court by a two-thirds majority; the Court then determines whether the State has failed to fulfil its obligation (Art. 46/3–5).

In criminal cases, a judgment of the ECtHR finding a violation is a ground for reopening proceedings. Where a final ECtHR judgment establishes that the conviction was delivered in breach of the Convention and that the judgment rests on that breach, the convicted person applies to the trial court for reopening within one year of the judgment becoming final. A strike-out decision following a friendly settlement or unilateral declaration opens the same possibility (Code of Criminal Procedure, Art. 311/1-f). The details are explained in the article on retrial after a finding of a violation (in Turkish).

For anyone moving from the Constitutional Court stage to Strasbourg, the two guides complement each other: the Constitutional Court stage is covered in the guide to individual applications to the Constitutional Court, and the time-limit calculator shows the last day once a date is entered.