Another Success for Giese & Partner Before the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has once again endorsed the legal arguments prepared by attorney-at-law Ondřej Rathouský and accepted a unilateral declaration submitted by the Czech Republic, in which the State expressly acknowledged a violation of the right to a fair trial. This represents yet another successful case handled by our firm before the ECtHR.

In proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights under application no. 23803/23, the Czech Republic acknowledged that the domestic judicial proceedings, which had concluded with a decision of the Constitutional Court, were affected by a violation of Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the right to a fair trial. The Czech Government expressly recognized this violation in its unilateral declaration submitted to the Court.

The case concerned the principles of legal certainty and the obligation of courts to provide adequate reasons when departing from their established case law. In its decision, the ECtHR reiterated that there is well-established case law on this issue, including an earlier judgment concerning a similar matter in the Czech Republic, in which our law firm also acted as counsel.

The ECtHR concluded that, in light of the State’s express acknowledgment of the violation and the existing possibility of obtaining redress at the domestic level through the reopening of proceedings before the Constitutional Court, it was no longer necessary to continue the examination of the application.

The Court expressly took note of the more recent case law of the Constitutional Court allowing the reopening of proceedings even where ECtHR proceedings have been terminated on the basis of a unilateral declaration by the Government. This creates an opportunity to remedy the consequences of the established violation directly within the domestic legal system.

The applicant was represented before the European Court of Human Rights by JUDr. Ondřej Rathouský, attorney-at-law at Giese & Partner. The decision constitutes a further confirmation of our firm's long-standing expertise in handling complex disputes involving the protection of fundamental rights, the right to a fair trial, and proceedings before international judicial bodies.

JUDr. Ondřej Rathouský has long specialized in representing clients before both the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This case follows another successful ECtHR proceeding conducted by our firm and underscores the importance of robust protection of procedural rights even after all available domestic remedies have been exhausted.