On 18 February 2013 a seminar on the “Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law on democratic changes and developments in Eastern Europe” was held in the European Court of Human Rights. Situations in 14 Eastern countries were presented primarily by the Judges from respective countries, concentrating on two main questions: the impact that the Convention has had on the democratisation processes and the impact in return on the Court’s case law.
The Latvian situation was presented by RGSL Prorector Martins Mits. It was pointed out that Latvian judiciary is fairly open to the application of the Convention. The strongest impact from the judgements of the Court so far can be observed in the areas of due process and freedom of expression, and the Convention has continuous impact on forming of the values of the society at large.
The seminar was part of a larger research project. Chapters on each country are aimed to be published in a book by Cambridge University Press. The initiators of the project are Judge of the Romanian Constitutional Court, professor Iulia Motoc and Judge of the European Court of Human Rights, RGSL professor Ineta Ziemele.