ANDREJEVA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT
1
In the case of Andrejeva v. Latvia,
The European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber
composed of:
Jean-Paul Costa, President,
Christos Rozakis,
Nicolas Bratza,
Peer Lorenzen,
Françoise Tulkens,
Josep Casadevall,
Ireneu Cabral Barreto,
Corneliu Bîrsan,
Nina Vajić,
Alvina Gyulumyan,
Dean Spielmann,
Davíd Thór Björgvinsson,
Ján Šikuta,
Ineta Ziemele,
Mark Villiger,
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Michael O’Boyle, Deputy Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 25 June 2008 and on 14 January 2009,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the lastmentioned date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (no. 55707/00) against the
Republic of Latvia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(“the Convention”) by a “permanently resident non-citizen” (nepilsone) of
Latvia who was previously a national of the former Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), Ms Natālija Andrejeva (“the applicant”), on
27 February 2000.
2. The applicant was represented before the Court by Mr V. Buzajevs,
Member of Parliament. The Latvian Government (“the Government”) were
represented by their Agent, Ms I. Reine.
3. The applicant alleged, in particular, that by refusing to grant her a
State pension in respect of her employment in the former Soviet Union prior
to 1991 on the ground that she did not have Latvian citizenship, the national
authorities had discriminated against her in the exercise of her pecuniary
rights. She relied on Article 14 of the Convention taken in conjunction with