The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that the Republic of Cyprus has violated the Article for the right to a fair hearing in the case Konstantinou v. Cyprus.
A press release by the Court says that the applicant, Kostas Konstantinou, is a Cypriot national who was born in 1968 and lives in Limassol.
The case concerns the alleged lack of judicial review available to Konstantinou in respect of a decision refusing to promote him to the post of district court president.
It adds that relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing) of the Convention, Mr Konstantinou complains that he had no access to a court to challenge the allegedly arbitrary decision of the transitional Supreme Council of Judicature (SCJ) and that the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) failed to act as an impartial tribunal, as the SCC judges who dismissed his complaint were, in their majority, the same judges who decided, as members of the transitional SCJ, not to promote him.
The Court found that there was violation of Article 6 § 1 (access to court). It held that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicant and that the respondent State was to pay him EUR 13,887.60 for costs and expenses.