EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS: REVIEW OF JUDGMENT (GRAND CHAMBER) IN THE CASE OF MOREIRA FERREIRA V. PORTUGAL (NO. 2)
The Grand Chamber judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Moreira Ferreira v. Portugal (no. 2) concerns the refusal by a domestic court to review a final judicial decision in a criminal case against the applicant on the basis of a previous Court judgment, adopted in 2011, in which it found a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in those criminal proceedings. Under Portuguese law, a final judicial decision may be reviewed including on the ground that the conviction is irreconcilable with a binding judgment of an international body. The national court refused the applicant to review the conviction noting that it was not irreconcilable with the 2011 Court judgment. The Grand Chamber found that this approach did not violate Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, as the interpretation of the previous Court's judgment by the national court was not arbitrary, the Convention itself does not recognise a right to have a final judicial decision reviewed, and there is no uniform approach to this issue among the member States of the Council of Europe.