Antisemitism of former judge at European Court of Human Rights is exposed; calls for cases to be reviewed

The European Court of Human Rights is facing calls to re-examine cases involving Jews after its longest-serving judge was exposed for sharing extreme antisemitic content on social media.

Bostjan Zupancic, who worked at the court for 17 years until 2016, has shared claims that Jews are “the central enemies of Western civilization”, as well as the hook-nosed caricatures commonly seen in neo-Nazi propaganda.

The former ECHR judge adjudicated in numerous hearings that directly affected Jewish communities, including cases involving kosher abattoirs and the restitution of property owned by German Jews.

Lord Carlile KC, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said: “It’s a matter of great regret that this judge should have abandoned the human rights principles he must have regarded as important.

“I would call upon the current court and its member states such as the UK to disavow Zupancic’s statements, and I would suggest there should be an examination of the cases on which he sat to ensure that the views he is now expressing did not affect his judgments.”

One of the vile images retweeted by Zupancic (Photo: X)

The remarks were echoed by Jonathan Turner, Chief Executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, who said his organisation was looking into “whether any judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in which Bostjan Zupancic participated should be reconsidered”.

After leaving the ECHR in 2016, Zupancic joined the European Centre of Law and Justice (ECLJ), an influential, conservative human rights think tank. It enjoys a special status that enables it to make reports to the UN. It also makes submissions to the ECHR.

This week, the ECLJ said it was removing him from his role in the wake of the revelations.

Source: Jewish Chronicle

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