On January 13, 2015, a Section of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Elberte v. Latvia that the removal of body tissue from the applicant’s deceased husband for use by a pharmaceutical company in Germany pursuant to a state-approved agreement without her knowledge or consent violated the European Convention on Human Rights.  According to the press release, the Court found that Latvia violated Article 8 (right for respect to private and family life) and Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and “in particular that Latvian law regarding the operation of the consent requirement on tissue removal lacked clarity and did not have adequate legal safeguards against arbitrariness.”  The Court highlighted “that, in the special field of organ and tissue transplantation, it had been recognised that the human body had to be treated with respect even after death” and “stressed that respect for human dignity formed part of the very essence of the European Convention.”  The Court also held that Latvia was to pay the applicant “16,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 500 in respect of costs and expenses.”