In April 2025, Alec Mayes (JD 2026), Ninveh Mansour (JD 2026), Morgan Garnhart (JD Candidate 2025), and Faraz Shahlaei (JSD 2024 and Adjunct Professor of Law), submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe calling their attention to the incomplete implementation of the European Court of Human Rights decision in the case of Mutu and Pechstein v. Switzerland.
On 2 October 2018, in Mutu and Pechstein, the European Court of Human Rights found Switzerland in violation of the rights of the second applicant with regard to the protections under Article 6.1 of the European Convention of Human Rights (due process). The Court confirmed that the protections under Article 6.1 of the ECHR, in particular the right to a public hearing, claimed by one of the applicants, are applicable to arbitral proceedings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In the aftermath of the Court’ ruling, CAS reformed its rules of procedure to allow public hearings, even though only in some limited circumstances. The communication called the Committee’s attention to the fact that the Court’s ruling did not limit the right to public hearing to narrow limited circumstances, and that public hearings remain the exception rather than the rule in CAS arbitration.
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