“Free speech” or “misconduct in employment”? Rubins v Latvia

Background

In January the Fourth Section ECtHR handed down judgment in Rubins v Latvia [2015] ECHR 2. The applicant, Head of the Department of Dermatological and Venereal Diseases at Riga Stradiņa University, was dismissed because of a series of e-mails he had sent to the Rector of the University about the proposed merger of his own Department with the Department of Infectious Diseases. The Court held by five votes to two that his dismissal had violated his rights under Article 10 ECHR (freedom of expression). Continue reading