ABSTRACT
Broadly speaking, there is no general or hypothetical right to complain and the European Court of Human Rights will examine the concrete case before it. A person need not have had his rights actually infringed; he need only run the risk. An applicant may be an indirect victim (for example, family member or close relative). A trade union cannot claim to be a victim on the basis that it represents the interests of its members. A company may be the victim of a breach of its rights, for example, freedom of expression (but shareholders cannot usually claim to be victims because of infringements of the company’s rights). A governmental organisation (for example, a local authority) cannot claim to be a victim.
