France condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for the house arrest of an environmental activist

France was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday May 16 for placing environmental activist Joël Domenjoud under house arrest during COP21 in Paris in 2015. However, it rejected a similar appeal filed by his brother Cédric, also an environmental activist.

The two brothers were the subject of a summons in their respective commune in the Paris region, from November 26 to December 12, 2015. The Minister of the Interior at the time, Bernard Cazeneuve, relied on the state of emergency proclaimed following the jihadist attacks of November 13, 2015, and accused the two brothers of being the “main leaders of the radical protest movement” in the Paris region, according to the ECHR.

In Joël’s case, European judges ruled that the measures taken by Paris had violated article 2 of protocol number 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, on freedom of movement. Nothing “does not indicate that the applicant personally considered participating in violent actions”observes the ECHR. “The Court considers that the radicality of its political convictions is not enough, in this case, to materialize” a risk of overflow. The ECHR ordered Paris to pay 11,500 euros to Joël in compensation.

On the other hand, concerning his brother Cédric, the judges note that he “had already been convicted for acts of damage” and that he “planned to get hired by a service provider in order to enter the climate conference site”. The measure was ordered “at a time when the protection of the population undoubtedly constituted an urgent need and when large gatherings were particularly exposed to the terrorist threat”. “In these very special circumstances”the ECHR considers that the measure “presented a sufficient link with the framework of the state of emergency”.