In time the European Court of Human Rights will issue its final decision to sentence or not sentance Greece, concerning the 30-year-old weakness of Greek authorities to allow Greeks abroad to vote in the place where they live. The Plenary Court (the Court of Human Rights sitting in plenary session) examined today in a public hearing, the case of the appeal of two Greeks, who permanently live in Strasbourg and who are high officers of the Council of Europe, to let them know if the weakness of Greek authorities to allow Greeks abroad to vote in the place where they live is an infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights or not. The appeal of Nikolaos Sitaropoulos and Christos Giakoumopoulos was submitted to the Court, on the 20th of September 2007 and mentioned that during the Greek parliamenatry elections of 2007, they couldn’t exercise their right to vote in Strasbourg. Greek authorities hadn’t legislated rules which would allow them to vote in their place of permanent residence. Judging their appeal on the 8th of July 2010, the Court issued a verdict of guilt for Greece, deciding that the lack of measures which allow the exercise of the voting right abroad is opposed to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. They also decided that the right of participation in free elections was also violated. Not to mention that the Court had imposed a compensation of 2,000 Euros for legal costs. On the 22nd of November 2010 and after the Greek government’s request, the case was referred to the Plenary Court to face trial in a public hearing today.
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