History Watch by the European Court of Human Rights

The jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights illustrates how judges are confronted with history. The article analyses instruments used by the Court in this confrontation: (i) freedom of expression as a tool to expand the freedom to investigate historical facts and events but also to verify and ensure the research’s reliability; (ii) right to respect for private life, as a limitation for research and for the right to access historical documents and archives; (iii) the emerging right to the truth, belonging to (the family of) victims whose fundamental rights were violated; and (iv) when the Court asserts certain historical facts, playing a larger political role than planned or expected