Strategic litigation represents the HRC’s most direct engagement with the development of European criminal law and human rights jurisprudence. By intervening as third parties in cases of general importance – before the European Court of Human Rights, national constitutional and supreme courts, and other international tribunals – the Committee brings the collective expertise and perspective of the criminal defence bar to proceedings whose outcomes will shape the rights of defendants, the obligations of states, and the standards expected of legal professionals across the continent.
The HRC’s interventions focus on issues of systemic significance: the admissibility of unlawfully obtained digital evidence, the scope of legal professional privilege in the era of mass surveillance, the fairness of cross-border judicial cooperation mechanisms, and the procedural guarantees that must accompany pre-trial detention and extradition. Rather than duplicating the arguments of the parties, the Committee’s submissions offer the court a perspective grounded in the daily reality of criminal defence practice – one that enriches legal reasoning and anchors abstract principles in the concrete demands of access to justice. Landmark cases like Silgir v. Germany on EncroChat evidence illustrate how a well-timed intervention can leave a durable mark on the law.
Coordinator
Alexis Anagnostakis is a distinguished criminal lawyer and Barrister admitted to the Hellenic Supreme Court. His practice focuses extensively on international criminal law, human rights, and high-profile defense cases involving allegations of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.