ECHR Rules on Illegal Ban of Warsaw Equality Parade: The Case of Baczkowski and Others v. Poland

German Law Journal

Volumn 8, Issue 9, 2007, Pages 889-902

  Van Den Bogaert, Sina ^a  

^a JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 81255133184     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20718322     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S2071832200006039     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007.
2. Amnesty Int'l, Poland: LGBT rights under attack, Nov. 25, 2005 (statement expressing concern about the climate of intolerance in Poland against the LGTB community). available at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR370022005?open&of=ENG-POL. See also Letter from Alvaro Gil-Robles, High Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, to the Polish Government, (June 20, 2007) (The High Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe referring to the problems encountered by LGTB people in Poland and to the unlawful ban of both the marches in Warsaw and Poznań in its Memorandum to the Polish Government of 20 June 2007). Available https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1155005&BackColorInternet=DBDCF2&BackColorIntranet= at FDC864&BackColorLogged=FDC864.
3. http://www.legislationline.org/news.php?tid=200&jid=39.
4. DIRELAND, http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/11/gay_poland_prot.html.
5. HELSINKI FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, http://www.hfhrpol.waw.pl/en/index.html.
6. Polish Official Journal, No. 98, item 602, (1997) (Pol.) (Dziennik Ustaw z 1997, Nr 98, poz. 602).
7. This is exactly 30 days before the planned date of the assembly, in accordance with Article 7(1) of the Assemblies Act (Prawo o Zgromadzeniach) stipulating that a request to hold an assembly must be submitted not earlier than 30 days and not later than 3 days before the planned date of the assembly.
8. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, para. 27, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007.
9. Such as the appellate procedure on which the 1997 Road Traffic Act is silent.
10. Polish Official Journal, No. 98, item 1071, (2000) (Pol.) (Dziennik Ustaw z 2000, Nr 98, poz. 1071).
11. KODEKS POSTĘPOWANIA ADMINISTRACYJNEGO (Pol. – Administrative Procedural Code) art. 127, para. 2, and art 17.1.
12. Please note that since the refusal to hold the stationary assemblies was based on the provision of the 1990 Assemblies Act, the appellate procedure for the applicants were different from the appellate procedure against the refusal of the march, which was based on the provisions of the 1997 Road Traffic Act.
13. Polish Official Journal, No. 51, item 297, (1990) (Pol.) (Dziennik Ustaw z 1990, Nr 51, poz. 297).
14. Polish police forces under the competence of the government, and not under the competence of the Mayor. In June 2005 at the time of the ban on the march in Warsaw, the government in power was a left-wing government, whilst Mr. Kaczyński, who banned the march, is a member of the “Law and Justice” party, which is a conservative catholic party. This might explain why the police did protect the march in spite of the ban by Mr. Kaczyński. The march in Poznań, in contrast, to which the police reacted violently, on the contrary, took place in November 2005, after the 23 October 2005 election of President Mr. Kaczyński.
15. Council of Europe documents use the English term ‘Court’ when referring to the highest judicial organ in Poland. English documents available at official Polish websites, such as the Constitutional Tribunal Act, use the term ‘Tribunal’ which is closer to the original Polish version of Trybunał. We have chosen to use the term Court, since this is the term used in the judgments of the European Court of Human Right. Only when referring to the Constitutional Tribunal Act, we chose to use the term Tribunal. See Constitutional Tribunal Act (1997) (Pol.). available at http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/Legal_Basis/Act_Trib97.htm.
16. Article 57 of the Constitution reads: “The freedom of peaceful assembly and participation in such assemblies shall be ensured to everyone. Limitations upon such freedoms may be imposed by statute.”
17. Trybunał Konstytucyjny (Polish Constitutional Court), K 21/05, para. 9 (Jan. 18, 2006), http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/ summaries/documents/K_21_05_GB.pdf (Requirement to obtain permission for an assembly on a public road, para. 9 of the unofficial English summary of judicial decisions).
18. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, para. 45-48 and 67, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007.
19. As opposed to the Criminal Code (Kodeks Karny) which deals with crimes regarded as a matter of criminal law.
20. Polish Official Journal, No. 12, item 114, (1971) (Pol.) (Dziennik Ustaw z 1971, Nr 12, poz. 114).
21. Szott-Medyńska v. Poland, App. No. 47414/99, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2003.
22. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, para. 49-54, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007.
23. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland at para. 80.
24. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland at para. 70-71.
25. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland at para. 76 and 80-84.
26. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, para. 27, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007 (The English translation of the interview with Mr Kaczyński in “Gazeta Wyborcza” of 20 May 2005 is entirely reproduced under the “circumstances of the case).
27. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, para. 98-99, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007.
28. I will elaborate on this in a subsequent section.
29. KONSTYTUCJA (Pol. – Constitution) art. 79, para. 1 .
30. BUNDESVERFASSUNGSGERICHTSGESETZ (GG – Federal Constitutional Court Act) art. 90, para. 2.
31. ALFRED DIETEL, KURT GINTZEL AND MICHAEL KNIESEL, Demonstrations- und Versammlungsfreiheit: Kommentar zum Gesetz über Versammlungen und Aufzüge, 161 (2004).
32. Polish Official Journal, No. 102, item 643, (1997) (Pol.) (Dziennik Ustaw z 1997, Nr 102, poz. 643). available at http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/Legal_Basis/Act_Trib97.htm.
33. The problem lies also in the fact, that Article 7 of the 1990 Assemblies Act stipulated, that a request to hold an assembly must be submitted to the municipality not earlier than thirty days before the planned date of the demonstration. See Polish, Official Journal note 7.
34. Szott-Medyńska and Others v. Poland, App. No. 47414/99, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2003.
35. X. v. Germany, App. No. 8499/99, Eur. Ct. H.R. (1980). Castells v. Spain, App. No. 11798/85, para. 24-32, Eur. Ct. H.R. (1992).
36. Brudnicka v. Poland, App. No. 54723/00, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2003.
37. Szott-Medyńska and Others v. Poland, App. No. 47414/99, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2003.
38. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, App. No. 1543/06, para. 95, Eur. Ct. H.R. 2007..
39. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, at para. 97.
40. Bączkowski and Others v. Poland, at para. 99-100.