Berlusconi v. Italy: intention to relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber

On 25 April 2017 the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to which the case of Berlusconi v. Italy (application no. 58428/13) has been assigned announced its intention to relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber (Article 30 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Rule 72 of the Rules of Court). The parties have been informed and have one month from the date of this notification within which to submit to the Registry a duly reasoned objection in writing. Under Rule 72 § 2, an objection which does not fulfil the relevant conditions will be considered invalid by the Chamber.

Principal facts

The applicant, Silvio Berlusconi, is an Italian national who was born in 1936 and lives in Rome.

On 27 November 2013 the Senate of the Italian Republic removed the applicant, a former Prime Minister of Italy (Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), from office as a senator in accordance with section 7 of Legislative Decree no. 235/2012 on account of his conviction for tax evasion.

Complaints and procedure

Mr Berlusconi alleges in particular a violation of Article 7 (no punishment without law) of the Convention, Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections) to the Convention, and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention.

The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 10 September 2013.

On 5 July 2016 it was communicated[1] to the Italian Government, together with questions from the Court.

[1] In accordance with Rule 54 of the Rules of Court, a Chamber of seven judges may decide to bring to the attention of a Convention State’s Government that an application against that State is pending before the Court (the so-called “communications procedure”). Further information about the procedure after a case is communicated to a Government can be found in the Rules of Court.