Legal Dialogue

The government is planning to “opt out” of parts of the European convention on human rights in order to speed up deportations of asylum seekers and protect British troops serving overseas from legal action.

Source: The Guardian

A court has found businessman Marian Kocner not guilty of ordering the killing of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée in 2018, in an attack that rocked Slovakia. Judges found that prosecutors had failed to prove Kocner and a third defendant had ordered the killings.

Source: BBC

A story about a gay man who beat depression has seen a Norwegian news website taken offline for well over a year in Russia. The Norwegians and a Russian NGO are fighting the blockade in court, but they face an uphill struggle, as the differences between Europe and the Russian regime deepen.

Source: EUobserver

The Dutch government wants to prosecute members of private groups and communities who fail to report sexual abuse in their organisations, a move that comes after Jehovah’s Witnesses rejected demands to tackle the under-reporting of abuse.

Source: Reuters

By 2038, Germany’s last coal-fired power plants are expected to be shut down. To reorient the regions economically, however, they are to be replaced by research institutions and companies. A coordination committee will now begin allocating the funding.

Source: Euroactive

Young activists from Portugal have filed the first climate change case at the European court of human rights in Strasbourg, demanding 33 countries make more ambitious emissions cuts to safeguard their future physical and mental wellbeing.

Source: The Guardian

Romania overpaid at least 356 million euros in just four years in restitution for property confiscated during the Communist era as a result of corrupt schemes to defraud the state, the authorities said.

Source: Balkan Insight

Poland warned it could mount a legal challenge to the European Union’s decision to withhold funding to towns accused of setting up so-called LGBT-free zones, in an escalation of a growing row over the issue. EU rejected last month six town twinning applications from Polish authorities that passed motions rejecting what they call “LGBT ideology” or defending traditional family values.

Source: Reuters

Britain and France have agreed to strengthen efforts to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. The UK wants more action taken to prevent migrant Channel crossings and has said it is considering possible changes to asylum laws.

Source: Euronews