ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT
47
PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF
JUDGES SPIELMANN AND JAEGER
(Translation)
1. We do not agree with the majority’s decision that no separate
examination of the applicant’s complaints was warranted under Article 11
of the Convention (see paragraph 141 and point 3 of the operative
provisions).
We consider that the applicant’s disqualification from standing for
election to Parliament and to municipal councils as a result of her active
participation in the CPL, a ban maintained more than a decade after the
events of which that party was accused, ought to have been examined by the
Court from the perspective of its compatibility with Article 11 of the
Convention.
2. The applicant’s leading position within the CPL and her conduct
during the events of 1991 were used to justify the refusal to allow her to
stand in either parliamentary or local elections. Those elements, namely the
applicant’s membership of and leading position within the CPL and her
conduct during a crucial period of Latvia’s struggle for “democracy through
independence” in 1991, are thus at the core of the restriction that the Court
has found to be compatible with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1.
An examination of the compatibility of that disqualification was required
not only with regard to Article 3 of Protocol No. 1, but also with regard to
Article 11.
3. It should be noted that when the crucial events occurred, namely when
the attempted coup took place on 13 January 1991 with the CPL’s backing,
that party was not prohibited. It was only on 23 August 1991 that the CPL
was declared unconstitutional by a decision of the Supreme Council, and, on
the following day, that the party’s activities were suspended and the
Minister of Justice was instructed “to investigate the unlawful activities of
the CPL and to put forward ... a motion on the possibility of authorising its
continued operations”. The Supreme Council did not order the party’s
dissolution until 10 September 1991.
4. Admittedly, the applicant’s disqualification was not based solely on
the ground of her membership of the CPL. However, in the instant case,
such membership was nevertheless one of the sine qua non conditions for
the impugned restriction.
Thus, given that her membership of the CPL and her leading position
within that party were among the elements used to justify the
disqualification, we consider that the scope of the protection (Schutzbereich)
offered by Article 11 has been brought into play.
5. In this context, it is incumbent on us to emphasise that the right
guaranteed under Article 11 of the Convention involves not only the right to