In Schalk & Kopf v. Austria (Application No. 30141/04) the First Section of the Court (which includes the Austrian judge) has scheduled an oral hearing on the admissibility and merits of the application for Thursday, 14 January 2010 at 9:00 am, before a 7-judge Chamber of the Court (which has 47 judges, one per Council of Europe member state). Hearings are now exceptional, because of the Court's heavy caseload, so this indicates the importance of the case.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has given Russia until January 20 to answer the cases of the bans of the Moscow Pride marches and pickets in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Those cases are represented before the ECtHR by Russian ECSOL-member, Dmitri Bartenev.

The DAAD Alumni Club of Montenegro is hosting the conference Justice in the Balkans: Equality for Sexual Minorities in Podgorica 23-25 October 2009. The European Commission on Sexual Oriention Law (ECSOL) gladly serves as a partner to this outstanding event in a very sensitive region. Ministers and representatives of Balkan governments, lawyers, academics and activists from Europe and North America will be present. Register now!

Years after repeal by the Constitutional Court the Vienna Appeals Court justified former anti-homosexual Art. 209 of the Austrian Criminal Code as “morally understandable” (OLG Wien 13.06.2006, 20 Bs 155/06z). The European Court of Human Rights now communicated six cases concerning the nationwide criminal record and the use of prior homophobic convictions still listed there to the Austrian government.