Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights sets limits on criminalisation, forbidding ex post facto criminalisation by signatory countries.

This requirement of foreseeability and protection against arbitrariness was further clarified by the Grand Chamber in Yasak v. Türkiye (2026), where it held that Article 7 requires that criminal offences be defined with sufficient accessibility and foreseeability so as to enable individuals to regulate their conduct. The Court found that the applicant's conviction resulted from an interpretation of domestic criminal law that did not meet the required “quality of law”, as it was not sufficiently precise and allowed for unforeseeable application. It therefore concluded that there had been a violation of Article 7 of the Convention.

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Case law Handyside v United Kingdom (1976; Article 7 claim found inadmissible) Kokkinakis v. Greece (1993; no breach, 8:1, as the applicable Greek law was not so vague as to constitute a breach) Jorgić v. Germany (2007; no breach found, unanimously, as the German government's interpretation of the crime of genocide and thus its application to the facts was found not to be inconsistent with international law) Kuolelis, Bartoševičius and Burokevičius v. Lithuania (2008; regarding Mykolas Burokevičius, no breach found, unanimously, in conviction of crimes under laws passed by the newly democratic legislature of Lithuania before the Soviet Union recognized its independence) Kononov v. Latvia (2010; no breach found, 14:3, in convicting partisans in false uniforms for murder of civilians contrary to the 1907 Hague Conventions) Maktouf and Damjanović v. Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013; breach found, unanimously, in prosecution and sentencing under Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2003 Criminal Code rather than Yugoslavia's 1976 Criminal Code for acts done during the Bosnian War in 1993) Yasak v. Türkiye (2026) (breach of Article 7, 11:6, in conviction for being a member of FETÖ/PDY, which was later classified as an armed terrorist group by courts in connection with the failed coup in 2016, without proof of relevant intent)

Other judgements involving Article 7 Ines Del Rio: case of the Parot doctrine

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