“Parot doctrine” in Strasbourg: Del Río Prada vs. Spain (10.7.2012, n.o 42750/09). Remarks about retrospective overruling and the execution of ECtHR judgments

Authors

  • Rafael Alcácer Guirao

Keywords:

Right to legality, right to freedom, retroactivity, “Parot doctrine”, execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

The judgment analysed in this paper declares the violation of articles 7 and 5 of the Convention by the judicial decisions that followed the so called «Parot doctrine», introduced by the spanish Supreme Court in its judgment nº. 197/2006 and which had the effect of prolonging stay in prison for many convicted who would have obtained their freedom in case the calculation system of penitentiary benefits used would have been the one the Supreme Court judgment retrospectively overruled. The paper discusses the consequences of the Strasbourg judgment, both in relation to its interpretive effects for the fundamental rights involved, and their possible ways of execution. 

Issue

Section

CASE LAW EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS