The Registrar
( 1st filter or obstacle especially if you don't have a human rights lawyer )
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg-Cedex
France
Fax: 00 33 3 88 41 27 30
Tel: 00 33 3 88 41 20 18

When it has received your letter the ECHR will send you one of its application forms to complete. If there is not enough space on the form you can set out your case in a longer document which you attach to the form. It is important that you submit your completed application form within any deadline set by the ECHR or, if no deadline is set, within a few weeks of receiving it. If you do not submit the form speedily you run the risk that the ECHR will decide that you have not met the six month deadline. If you cannot meet any deadline that is set you should contact the ECHR and try to agree an extended deadline.

Once the ECHR has acknowledged receipt of your application form it may be some time (months if not years) before you hear anything further.

It's very difficult to fill out the application with no help of a human rights lawyer. Most countries give you a free lawyer if you are poor but not Finland. First fault of the system. I managed to fill out the application and it was approved by the 2 Fins who work in the registry. First conflict of interest is here already and second fault of the system.

At this stage the ECHR may rule your application inadmissible.
( Second filter or obstacle. Thats where my application was denied based on  the corrupt judge "Gaetano " )
 The ECHR will not give reasons and there is no right of appeal. If your application is ruled inadmissible you will not be able to proceed with it.

I received the information a year later from September 13 2011 that Finland violated no laws but Finland violated many laws. One corrupt judge from Malta made the decision. " Gaetano" by name. One judge only. Third fault of the system

If it is not ruled inadmissible at this stage, your application will be allocated to one of the ECHR’s four sections. A panel of seven judges from that section will deal with the case.
( Third filter or obstacle )
This panel will always include the judge appointed by the United Kingdom. Very significant cases may be dealt with by the ECHR’s Grand Chamber. These cases are considered by a panel of seventeen judges. A case could be transferred to the Grand Chamber at any stage in the proceedings.

Your application will also be communicated to the Government at this stage, that is, the Government will be informed that you have made an application and will be invited to respond. You will be given an opportunity to respond to the Government’s observations and there may be further exchanges of written representations.

The ECHR will then decide whether your application is admissible. It can rule your application inadmissible if you have failed to meet one of the three requirements set out above or if the ECHR considers that it is ‘manifestly ill-founded’, in other words, that it is not arguable. If the ECHR finds your application inadmissible at this stage it will give reasons, but there is no right of appeal. ( Fourth filter or obstacle )

So first you must fill the application out ( difficult without a lawyer but not impossible. Then one judge will make the decision if your country violated any laws. Most applications are being rejected at that point. If you are lucky a panel of 7 judges will look at your application but might reject it. See through how many filters it has to pass? I the Registry, II the one judge filter, III the 7 judges filter. Then it goes to the ECHR AGAIN IV filter. So the question is how many do manage to go through all 4 filters? Not very many I guess

If the ECHR finds your application admissible it will then go on to decide whether there has been a breach of the Convention. The ECHR usually refers to this as considering the merits of the application. At this point you have the right to put in a claim for compensation. The ECHR calls this ‘just satisfaction’. It should include a claim for legal expenses if you have incurred any. Your claim for just satisfaction should be sent to the ECHR within two months of the ECHR finding your application admissible. Both sides may make further representations before the ECHR decides on the merits of the application.

When the ECHR has made its decision on the merits of your application, you will be notified of the date on which its judgment will be made public. The judgment will be published on the ECHR’s website on that day. If the ECHR finds that there has been a breach of your rights it may award you compensation although it does not always do so on the basis that its finding that there has been a breach of your rights is enough.
( Fifth filter or obstacle )
Once a section of the ECHR has made a final decision on the merits of an application, either party, the Government or the Applicant, can ask to have the application referred to the Grand Chamber. This is the only form of appeal that the ECHR’s rules allow for. The Grand Chamber only rarely agrees to a referral. There is no appeal from a final decision made by the Grand Chamber.

Hearings

The ECHR deals with most cases without holding a hearing; it reaches its decisions on the basis of written representations made by the parties. When the ECHR does decide to hold a hearing this will usually take place before the ECHR has decided on the admissibility of the application, although it may also hold a hearing after an application has been found admissible if it has not already held one.

Legal representation

Although you can make an application to the ECHR yourself, it would be wise to get a lawyer experienced in ECHR proceedings to represent you. Most cases are ruled inadmissible at an early stage and are not communicated to the Government. Having a lawyer present your arguments for you may help you get over this hurdle.

If the ECHR decides to hold a hearing after it has found your application admissible, the ECHR rules require you to be represented by a lawyer at that hearing unless the ECHR allows otherwise.

Legal Aid

The ECHR has a system of legal aid although the payments which a lawyer receives under the scheme are very low. You can apply for legal aid once your application has been communicated to the Government. It is particularly useful to have legal aid if the ECHR holds a hearing on your case, as legal aid will pay the cost of your and your lawyer’s trip to Strasbourg. Eligibility for legal aid will depend on the Legal Services Commission accepting that you would be eligible for legal aid in this country.

If you are not eligible for legal aid, your lawyer may agree to represent you under a conditional fee agreement, that is, on the basis that they will only get paid if you win your case and get your legal costs paid by the Government. However, as very few applications to the ECHR are successful, your lawyer may be reluctant to take this risk. If you lose your case you will not be ordered to pay the Government’s legal costs.
( To win you must overcome five obstacles )