issued by the Registrar of the Court

ECHR 051 (2025)

25.02.2025

Judgments of 25 February2025

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing seven judgments¹:

four Chamber judgments are summarised below;

three Committee judgments, concerning issues which have already been examined by the Court, can

be consulted on Hudoc and do not appear in this press release.

The judgments in French below are indicated with an asterisk (*).

Gomes Costa v. Portugal (application no. 34916/16)*

The applicant is a Portuguese national who was born in 1972 and lives in Portugal.

The case concerns the applicant’s detention pending trial for a period of eight months and 21 days in

the context of criminal proceedings opened against him on allegations of rape, which resulted in his

acquittal. It also concerns the domestic authorities’ refusal to grant him compensation for the

damage he claims to have sustained on account of his pre-trial detention.

Relying on Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the

applicant complains that he was placed and kept in pre-trial detention despite a lack of relevant and

sufficient grounds. He further complains that he was not afforded redress for the alleged

unlawfulness of his detention.

Relying on Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention, he submits that his right to be

presumed innocent was undermined.

No violation of Article 5 § 3

No violation of Article 6 § 2

Toth and Crișan v. Romania (no. 45430/19)

The applicants, Zoltán-Ovidiu Toth and Alin Crișan, are two Romanian nationals who were born in

1982 and 1974, respectively, and live in Oradea (Romania). They are police officers working for the

local police force (Poliţia Locală Oradea).

The case concerns the posting of a text and a photo of the applicants by a member of the local

community, C.T., on the public Facebook group “Oradea is us” (Oradea suntem noi) in April 2016

after the police officers had fined C.T. and her mother for not putting their bin-bag of household

waste in the right place. The applicants brought proceedings against C.T. on account of the contents

of the post, the information disclosed and the public reaction it had generated.

Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention, the applicants

complain that when dismissing the proceedings, the Romanian courts failed to strike a fair balance

Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a Chamber

judgment’s delivery, any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a

panel of five judges considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and

deliver a final judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day. Under Article 28 of the

Convention, judgments delivered by a Committee are final.

Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.

Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution

between the competing interests at stake and to adequately protect their right to respect for their

private lives and reputations.

No violation of Article 8

Öner v. Türkiye (no. 8875/22)*

The applicants, Mehmet Şirin Öner and Besra Öner, are two Turkish nationals who were born in

1975 and 1974 respectively.

The case concerns the death of the applicants’ son, who was run over by an armoured police vehicle

during a demonstration in Diyarbakır (Türkiye).

Relying on Article 2 (right to life) of the Convention, the applicants allege that their son was run over

by the vehicle deliberately, that he was not taken immediately to hospital despite serious injuries

and that the public prosecutor failed to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances

surrounding his death.

No violation of Article 2 in its subtantive and procedural aspects

Ezeoke v. the United Kingdom (no. 61280/21)

The applicant, Obina Christopher Ezeoke, is a British national who was born in 1992 and is currently

serving a prison sentence in HMP Frankland, in Durham (United Kingdom).

The applicant was arrested on 18 September 2016 on suspicion of the murder of a woman and her

21-year-old nephew. The case concerns the length and fairness of criminal proceedings against

Mr Ezeoke, who stood trial five times before he was convicted by a jury of the offences with which

he was charged.

Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) of the Convention, Mr Ezeoke complains that the length

of the proceedings was incompatible with the “reasonable time” requirement, and that he did not

have a “fair hearing” as a consequence of delays and the repeated retrials.

Violation of Article 6 § 1 on account of the excessive length of the criminal proceedings against the

applicant

No violation of Article 6 § 1 on account of the alleged lack of fairness of the impugned criminal

proceedings

Just satisfaction :

The applicant did not submit a claim for just satisfaction.

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