The European Court of Human Rights vindicated the claims of Ms K Kiisa v Estonia on 13 March 2014, finding violations of Articles 6 and 13 in her case No 16857/10. The case concerned the over-lengthy proceedings arising from Ms Kiisa's claims to financial support from her former husband and the lack of an effective remedy in Estonia against those delays.
The case is an example of the Eur Ct HR's new procedure in 'manifestly well-founded' cases, applied to accelerate procedure and tackle the Eur Ct HR's backlog. That procedure involves proposing a friendly settlement to the parties and encouraging the respondent Government to make a 'Unilateral Declaration', in the light of which the Eur Ct HR would be able to strike the application out of the list.
However, Ms Kiisa was able to vindicate her claims through a judgment from the Eur Ct HR finding the violations summarised, having shown that the Estonian Government's Unilateral Declaration failed to address all the issues in the case and that a friendly settlement was not consistent with her complaints.
Ms Kiisa was represented before the Eur Ct HR by Piers Gardner, who has been involved in ECHR cases concerning a total of 29 Member States of the Council of Europe, including the United Kingdom.
Click here to read the full Kiisa v Estonia judgment.