Abstract

On 15 March 2018, the Grand Chamber of the European court of human rights issued its judgment in the case of "Naït-Liman v. Switzerland". Confirming the Chamber's judgement, it found that the refusal by the Swiss courts to examine the applicant's civil claim for compensation against Tunisia did not constitute a breach of Article 6, para. 1, of the European convention on human rights. Notably, the Court examined whether Switzerland was under an international obligation to exercise universal civil jurisdiction over acts of torture and concluded it wasn't. The first part of the contribution summarizes the Grand Chamber's judgment; the second part points out the main critical aspects of the judgment and envisages two possible alternative approaches the Court could have adopted in addressing this case.