STRØBYE AND ROSENLIND v. DENMARK JUDGMENT
In the case of Strøbye v. Denmark,
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a
Chamber composed of:
Marko Bošnjak, President,
Jon Fridrik Kjølbro,
Aleš Pejchal,
Valeriu Griţco,
Branko Lubarda,
Pauliine Koskelo,
Saadet Yüksel, judges,
and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar,
Having regard to:
the applications (nos. 25802/18 and 27338/18) against the Kingdom of
Denmark lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”)
by two Danish nationals, Mr Tomas Strøbye (the first applicant) and
Mr Martin Rosenlind (the second applicant), on 25 May 2018;
the decision to give notice to the Danish Government (“the
Government”) of the applications;
the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the
observations in reply submitted by the applicants;
the comments submitted by the European Network of National Human
Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), which was granted leave to intervene by the
President of the Section (Article 36 § 2 of the Convention and Rule 44 § 2
of the Rules of Court);
Having deliberated in private on 15 December 2020,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
INTRODUCTION
1. In 1984 and 2009, respectively, the applicants were deprived of their
legal capacity. Consequently, they were not entitled to vote, inter alia, in
the 2015 parliamentary elections. They brought their case before the
domestic courts, maintaining that their disenfranchisement was in
contravention of Article 29 of the Danish Constitution, the Convention,
and/or the UN Disability Convention. The courts found against them.
2. The applicants complained of a breach of their right to vote under
Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, taken alone or read in
conjunction with Article 14 of the Convention.
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