Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)91[1]
Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights:
Frodl against Austria
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”)[2],
Having regard to the judgment transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it became final;
Case name (App. No.)
Judgment of
Final on
Frodl (20201/04)
8 April 2010
4 October 2010
Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded in the judgments, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate, of individual measures to put an end to the violations and as far as possible to remedy their consequences for the applicant and general measures to prevent new, similar violations;
Having invited the authorities of the respondent state to provide an action plan concerning the measures proposed to execute the judgment;
Having, in accordance with the Committee’s Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention, examined the action report provided by the government (see appendix);
Having noted that the respondent state paid the applicant the just satisfaction, as provided in the judgment;
DECLARES, that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in these cases and DECIDES to close the examination thereof.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)91
Information about the measures to comply with the judgment in the case of
Frodl against Austria
ACTION REPORT
Payment:
Date:
The amount of 5.000 EURO has been paid to the applicant.
17/01/2011
Publication:
Date:
An analysis of the case has been published in the newsletter Menschenrechte (No. 2010/2, p. 117 f.) and in the “Österreichische Juristenzeitung” (ÖJZ 2010, p. 734 ff.).
The case has also been analyzed in a Circular Note which has been sent toall Federal Ministries,the Constitutional Court,the Administrative Court,the Supreme Court,the Asylum Court,Parliament,the governments of all nine Austrian Länder,the Liaison Office of the Länder with the federal authorities,all human rights co-ordinators at the federal ministries,all independent administrative panels of the Länder, as well asall directorates-general of the Federal Chancellery
and has also been published on the homepage of the Prime Minister’s Office (Federal Chancellery) at: )
22/09/2010
12/07/2011
General measures:
Date:
By passing the Electoral Law Amendment Act
(Wahlrechtsänderungsgesetz 2011) in June 2011 the Austrian
Parliament has amended the electoral code (Federal Gazette I No.
43/2011):
In future no prisoner is automatically excluded from the right to vote, as the decision on disenfranchisement has to be taken by a judge (cf. § 34 and 35 of the judgment), who can exclude individuals from the right to vote if they have been sentenced with final effect to a term of imprisonment of more than one year, given that there is a link between the offence committed and issues relating to elections and democratic institutions or if they have been sentenced with final effect to a term of imprisonment of more than five years for criminal offences committed with intent (cf. § 34 and 35 of the judgment). An exhaustive list of offences linked to issues relating to elections and democratic institutions, which include High Treason and other assaults against the state, assaults against the supreme organs of the state, treason, assaults against the army, criminal offences related to elections and referenda has explicitly been incorporated into Art. 22 National Assembly Election Act.
Entry into force on
1/10/2011
In their decision on disenfranchisement, judges will consider the particular circumstances of the individual case (cf. §§ 34 and 35 of the judgment) taking into account the European Convention on Human Rights and the Strasbourg Court’s case law.
As additional safeguard, a new provision (§ 446a) has been incorporated into the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1975, which stipulates that “disenfranchisement [ ... ] [is to be] [ ... ] decided
[upon] in the criminal judgment” and that this decision, being taken on an equal footing with the sentence, “can be appealed against”.
The amendment of the electoral code enters into force on 1
October 2011 and is applicable to elections on Federal Level
(Parliamentary Elections, Election of the Federal President,
Elections to the European Parliament, referenda (including petitionary and consultative referenda). In line with the Austrian constitution it will also apply to the elections of the Parliaments of the Länder, of community as well as district councils and – where this is foreseen in the constitutions of the Länder – elections of mayors. A copy of the Electoral Law Amendment Act, Federal Law Gazette I No. 43/2011, is enclosed.
Individual measures:
Date:
No further action seems to be required, since Mr. Frodl, who has been released on probation from prison on 12 June 2009, has regained his right to vote since 12 December 2009.
12/12/2009
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 14 September 2011 at the 1120th Meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies
[2] See also the Recommendations adopted by the Committee of Ministers in the context of the supervision of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and in particular Recommendation Rec(2004)6 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the improvement of domestic remedies.
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