Couso Permuy v Spain

The applicant was the brother of a Spanish journalist who was killed during a US operation in Iraq in 2003. The case had a lengthy domestic history which came to an end with the passing of Spanish legislation in 2014 which restricted the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the Spanish courts. It was claimed that the resulting decision to terminate the domestic proceedings violated the applicant’s Article 6 right of access to a court.

The UK Government intervened on the question of jurisdiction, arguing that there were no exceptional circumstances justifying the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction so as to bring the case within the scope of Article 1 of the Convention (paragraphs 129-130).

The Court held that as a result of the applicant’s civil claim in Spain there existed a “jurisdictional link” for the purposes of Article 1 of the Convention (paragraph 99). The court proceeded to hold that Article 6 was engaged, but that the Spanish legislation of 2014 was proportionate in pursuit of a legitimate aim (paragraph 149). There was therefore no violation of Article 6.

Sir James Eadie KC and Jason Pobjoy acted for the UK Government, which submitted observations as an intervener.

The judgment can be found here.

The Court’s press release can be found here.