6 Responsibility, 6.4 Admissibility of the Application by Vlastimir and Borka Banković, Živana Stojanović, Mirjana Stoimenovski, Dragana Koksimović, and Dragan Suković against Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, European Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber Decision, [2001]

Subject(s):

Judges — Membership of international organizations — International organizations, practice and procedure — Responsibility of international organizations

The Bankovic case is one of few cases in which the European Court of Human Rights took a position that, without an acceptable explanation, restricts the application of rights granted by the European Convention on Human Rights. The application was submitted by individuals who put forward that in 1999 seventeen states parties violated art. 2 (right to life) of the Convention by bombing by aircraft the television and radio station in Belgrade. As a consequence of this NATO directed operation sixteen civilians were killed and another sixteen were seriously injured. The Court found that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the case, as at that time Yugoslavia was not a party to the Convention. The Court gave a too restrictive interpretation of the word ‘jurisdiction’ to basically conclude that the Convention applies only within the territory of states parties. The Bankovic decision has been contradicted by subsequent judgments.