ECtHR: Lithuanian courts breached right of property by refusing to compensate an acquitted judge for her unpaid salary during suspension from judicial office

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has handed down its judgment in Anželika Šimaitienė v. Lithuania (application no. 36093/13), a case concerning the consequences of Lithuanian criminal proceedings for abuse of office and forgery of documents against a judge of the Vilnius City Third District Court.

The applicant claimed that her case was not heard by an independent and impartial tribunal, in breach of Article 6(1) of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). She also complained that although the criminal proceedings against her had been discontinued, she had not been paid a salary for the period that she had been suspended from her judicial office, in breach of Article 6(2) ECHR and Article 1 of Protocol No.