The Role of the European Court of Human Rights in Ensuring the Right to a Fair Trial with the Republic of Latvia and Republic of Finland as an Example

The aim of the doctoral thesis “The role of the European Court of Human Rights in ensuring the right to a fair trial with the Republic of Latvia and Republic of Finland as an example” is a comparative analysis and study of the values of the European Convention and the role of the European Court of Human Rights to ensure the right to a fair trial in the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Finland. The author made a comparative analysis of international and national legislations of the Latvian Republic and the Republic of Finland, judicial practice, study of findings and the basis of decision by the Constitutional Court as well as the three Departments of the Supreme Court of Republic of Latvia, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court of Republic of Finland, author proposes new theoretical ideas and particular proposals to amend the national legislation. Structure of the thesis is created on the basis of logic, aims and objectives of the conducted study. The structure of the Doctoral thesis is defined by the object and subject, with the targets and missions, consisting of four chapters, which include eighteen paragraphs, conclusions, appendices and bibliography for the sources as well as interviews with the Judges of European Court of Human Rights and Constitutional Court of Republic of Latvia. In the first chapter, the author examines the essence of the assignment, the historical emergence of human rights and freedoms, assessing the role and the legal meaning of the Constitution in the national legal system. The second chapter examines the influence of European Convention on Human Rights and the role of the ECHR in the courts of Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Finland. The third chapter analyses international legal standards in the national legal system. In the fourth chapter the author examines the guarantees of a fair trial in the national courts of the Republic of Finland. In the concluding part author gives a comparative picture of the national judicature and the enforcement of ECHR judgments in Latvia and Finland and puts forward some practical recommendations for discussion and approbation. The undertaken study has shown that despite the considerable differences between the national legal systems of the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Finland, both systems use a statutory method of implementation of the international norms into the legal system, thus enforcing the right to fair judicial trial. The Doctoral thesis consists of 200 pages, 490 used sources of information.