5.   The applicant, Mr Bogdan Ioan Bulea, is a Romanian national who was born in 1973. 6.  On 30 January 2003 the applicant was arrested and charged with several crimes. On 24 February 2003 the investigation concluded with the applicant’s indictment for fraud, use of forged documents and associating with several people with the goal of committing economic crimes. 7.  On 28 August 2003 the applicant’s pre-trial detention was replaced by the Bacău County Court with the preventive measure of a prohibition on leaving town. Claiming that the prohibition on leaving his town of residence had prevented him from obtaining a job, the applicant sought to have the measure overturned. On 25 November 2003 the Bacău County Court allowed the applicant’s application and replaced it with a prohibition on leaving the country. 8.  On 20 April 2004 the Bacău County Court convicted the applicant of aggravated fraud, use of forged documents and associating with several people with the goal of committing crimes and sentenced him to twelve years’ imprisonment. 9.  The applicant filed an appeal, which was partially allowed on 22 March 2005 when the Galaţi Court of Appeal decided to send the case back to the Galaţi County Court for retrial on the merits. 10. During the retrial, the applicant sought the revocation of the preventive measure prohibiting him from leaving the country on several occasions, complaining that the unreasonably long travel ban had prevented him from conducting his business activities and earning a living for his family. He also argued that there were no reasons to suspect that he posed a flight risk. On 7 March 2006 the Galaţi County Court rejected the applicant’s application, holding that the severity of the crimes he was accused of, the significant losses to the State treasury which had been caused by those offences and the early phase of the trial justified the need to keep the preventive measure against him in place. The court further stated that the duration of the proceedings and the duration of the preventive measure imposed on him were also due to the complexity of the case, which involved numerous defendants and witnesses.
Similar applications for revocation of the preventive measure filed by the applicant were rejected with the same reasoning by the Galaţi County Court on 3 and 28 April 2006. On 19 September 2006 a new application by the applicant was again rejected by the same court, which found that the measure was still necessary given the significant losses caused to the State treasury, the complexity of the case and the fact that the measure had not been in force for an excessive period of time. 11. On 30 March 2007 a new judgment on the merits was issued by the Galaţi County Court, which found the applicant guilty of aggravated fraud, use of forged documents and associating with several people with the goal of committing crimes and sentenced him to eleven years’ imprisonment. The applicant was also obliged to repay to the State treasury the sum of 3,740,901,433 Romanian lei (ROL) which he had received illegally. The court analysed the necessity of the preventive measure prohibiting the applicant from leaving the country and decided to maintain it, considering that it was necessary in view of the severity of the crimes committed by the applicant. 12.  The applicant filed an appeal against the judgment of 30 March 2007. During the appeal hearings before the Galaţi Court of Appeal, the applicant once again applied for the removal of the prohibition on leaving the country. At a hearing which took place on 8 October 2008 the court rejected the applicant’s application with the reasoning that, at this stage of the proceedings, given the fact that the applicant had been convicted by the first-instance court but also in view of his numerous attempts to delay the proceedings, keeping the measure in place was warranted. On 18 December 2008 the Galaţi Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. The preventive measure imposed on the applicant was maintained, the court holding that the reasons for imposing the measure were still valid. 13.  Both the applicant and the prosecutor filed appeals on points of law (recurs) against the judgment of 18 December 2008. 14.  By a final judgment of 18 March 2010 the High Court of Cassation and Justice allowed the prosecutor’s appeal and convicted the applicant of aggravated fraud and associating with several people with the goal of committing crimes and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment. The obligation to reimburse the sum illegally received from the State treasury was upheld. 15.  On 8 April 2010 the applicant started serving his sentence in Bacău Prison. 16.  In his application form of 17 May 2010 the applicant complained that the atmosphere in the prison cell was terrifying and amounted to psychological pressure. 17.  In his letter of 9 July 2010 the applicant complained before the Court that his prison cell was overcrowded, measuring 24 sq. m and having twenty-seven beds arranged in three-level bunks separated by a space of one metre. The applicant also complained that the cell only had one window of 1 sq. m and was therefore lacking in natural light and ventilation. In addition, he complained that he was being held in the same cell as very dangerous criminals. 18.  According to an order of the prison administration submitted by the applicant, there was no electricity provided in the cells between 7:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., while between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. electricity was only provided for the security light. 19.  The applicant was detained in Bacău Prison between 8 April 2010 and 15 July 2010. 20.  Between 8 April and 3 May 2010 he was held in the intake area and was detained in cell no. 115, which measured 26.27 sq. m and had fifteen beds installed. The applicant shared the cell with a maximum of seven other detainees. The window measured 1.73 sq. m. 21.  Between 3 May and 7 July 2010 the applicant was detained in cell no. 107, which measured 39.36 sq. m, had twenty-seven beds installed and which he shared with a maximum of seventeen other detainees. The window measured 2.78 sq. m. 22.  Between 7 and 15 July 2010 the applicant was detained in cell no. 506, which measured 32.13 sq. m, had ten beds and which he shared with nine other detainees. The window measured 2.52 sq. m. 23.  In respect of the hygiene conditions in the cells, the Government submitted that the cells each had a bathroom with individual toilets, showers and sinks and windows which provided natural light and allowed ventilation. The cells and the bathrooms were also equipped with an electric ventilation system. 24.  On 15 July 2010 the applicant’s application for temporary release for three months was allowed by the Bacău Court of Appeal and he was released from prison on the same date. 25.  Because the applicant did not return to continue serving his sentence after the expiry of the three-month term, on 19 October 2010 a nationwide search warrant for him was issued. On 4 November 2011 the warrant was extended to the international level by the Bacău County Police. The applicant remains at large.


9.  On 3 November 1975 the applicant’s parents requested a court to declare that they had acquired by prescription ownership of a plot of land which had been in their possession for more than 15 years. It appears that they were summoned by the court to identify the successors of the original owners and to indicate their addresses. The participation of these persons in the proceedings was necessary to preclude them from invoking their rights after the matter had been decided upon. 10.  As the applicant’s parents had failed to establish the addresses of all the persons potentially concerned, the proceedings were stayed on 31 July 1976. The number of persons potentially affected by the outcome of the proceedings amounted at that time to thirty-eight, some of whom resided abroad. 11.  On unspecified dates in 1977 the applicant’s parents died and the applicant and her sister inherited their estate. 12.  Between 1975 and 1990, some of the original owners of the property or their successors died and the number of persons potentially affected by the outcome of the proceedings (as further successors of the original owners) increased. 13.  On 15 October 1990 the applicant, being unable to identify all the successors of the original owners or to indicate their addresses, requested the Ostrów Wielkopolski District Court to publish a press notice summoning persons potentially interested in the outcome of the case and to resume the proceedings. 14.  On 17 September 1993 the court decided to appoint a court officer (curator absenti) to represent persons potentially affected by the proceedings but whose addresses were unknown. The court also ordered the publication of a press notice to summon other persons potentially concerned. 15.  At a hearing held on 29 April 1994 the court found that some of the other persons already involved in the proceedings had died. The court again instructed the applicant to indicate the addresses of their successors. The applicant failed to do so and by a decision of 13 January 1997 the court refused to resume the proceedings. 16.  On 22 February 1999 the applicant again requested the court to resume the proceedings on the merits. Apparently, by that stage fifty-three persons were potentially interested in the outcome of the proceedings. 17.  On 25 March 1999 the Ostrów District Court refused to resume the proceedings in view of the applicant’s failure to submit the addresses of all persons potentially affected. The court also decided to discontinue the proceedings, finding that more than three years had elapsed since the date of the last procedural step in the case. 18.  On 2 April 1999 the applicant appealed against this decision and on 27 October 1999 the Kalisz Regional Court partly allowed her appeal. In particular, the court found that there were no grounds to discontinue the proceedings as some procedural steps had been taken during the preceding three years even though technically the proceedings had been stayed. Nevertheless, the court decided that the proceedings should remain stayed in view of the applicant’s failure to comply with the court order. 19.  On 3 March 1999 the Ostrów District Court again summoned the applicant to indicate the current address of one of the potential litigants and the legal successors of another.
It appears that the applicant did not file with the court the addresses requested and on 2 February 2000 the trial court rendered a decision discontinuing the proceedings. The applicant appealed. On an unspecified date her appeal was allowed. 20.  On 18 January 2002 the applicant was again summoned to submit the names and addresses of potential litigants, including one allegedly living in Ukraine, on pain of a stay of the proceedings. On 19 February 2002 the court stayed the proceedings, having regard to the applicant’s failure to indicate the legal successors of five litigants and to give the current addresses of a further seven litigants. 21.  On 21 February 2005 the court discontinued the proceedings, having regard to the fact that the applicant had failed to request, within three years, that the stayed proceedings be resumed. 22.  On 21 March 2005 the applicant appealed and objected to the obligation to identify and find the legal successors of former owners and to indicate their addresses. She submitted that the case would have been terminated long ago had the appointment of the curator absenti and the publication of press notice been properly used by the court. She requested the court to publish a press notice or appoint a curator again. 23.  On 31 May 2005 the court summoned her to pay PLN 160 by way or a court fee for the appeal, to identify the legal successors of another six parties who had died and to submit fifty copies of her appeal. The applicant refused to pay the fee, arguing that she had paid this amount several times, but that this had not led to any progress in the resolution of the merits of the case. She also refused to identify the legal successors or addresses of sixteen persons referred to in the decision of 21 February and the summons of 31 May 2005 and reiterated that she had already repeatedly informed the court that she was unable to do so. She referred to her request to publish a press notice to summon potential parties to join the proceedings by way of a press notice. 24.  On 15 June 2005 the court refused to entertain her appeal on the ground that she had refused to pay the court fee and refused to submit fifty copies of the appeal. 25.  The applicant appealed against this decision, submitting that in the absence of the addresses of all potential litigants the requirement to submit fifty copies of her appeal was unreasonable because in any event these copies could not be served on them. 26.  On 28 July 2005 the court summoned her to rectify her appeal by paying PLN 160, by submitting twenty six copies of the appeal, by indicating the legal successors of six deceased litigants and by giving the addresses of two further litigants. 27.   In her pleadings of 12 August 2005 the applicant again submitted that publication of a press notice and the appointment of curator absenti provided for in Article 609 of the Code of Civil Procedure were specifically designated to address situations such as this which had arisen in her case. 28.  On 12 August 2005 the court rejected her appeal against the decision of 15 June 2005, having regard to her failure to comply with the summons of 28 July 2005. 29.  The applicant appealed against this decision, again submitting that she was unable to identify the names and addresses of the persons concerned. 30.  On 21 September 2005 the court rejected her appeal on the ground that she had failed to pay a court fee in the amount of PLN 160 and to submit twenty six copies of her appeal.


5.  The applicants were born in 1965 and 1961 respectively and live in Ramučiai, Kaunas Region. They are wife and husband. 6.  In 1993 the Karmėlava Circuit Council of the Kaunas Region (Kauno rajono Karmėlavos apylinkės tarnyba) assigned a plot of land measuring 1.97 hectares to the first applicant (hereinafter “the land”), Ms Noreikienė (hereinafter “the first applicant”), for individual farming. In 1996 the Kaunas County Administration authorised her to buy the land for a nominal price of 123 “single-use investment vouchers” (investiciniai čekiai) and 6 Lithuanian litai (LTL – approximately 1.7 euro (EUR)). 7.  On 2 August 2004 the first applicant signed a land purchase agreement with the Kaunas County Administration to acquire the land from the State. The plot was subsequently registered in the Land Registry in the joint names of both applicants. 8.  In 2005 a third party, V.A., brought a civil claim against the Kaunas County Administration and the both applicants, seeking restoration of his ownership rights to the land. He argued that a request for restitution of property had already been submitted in 1991, so the land had been assigned and later sold to the first applicant unlawfully. 9.  On 14 April 2006 the Kaunas District Court (Kauno rajono apylinkės teismas) allowed V.A.’s claim. It held that the first applicant had been assigned the land unlawfully because the local authorities had an obligation to resolve restitution claims before assigning plots to new owners, and because she did not fulfil the legal criteria for being assigned land. Applying the principle of priority of former owners’ rights, the court annulled the administrative decisions assigning the land to the first applicant and the land purchase agreement, and ordered the Kaunas County Administration to return LTL 129 (EUR 37) to the applicants. 10.  On 31 October 2006 the Kaunas Regional Court quashed the lower court’s decision and dismissed the civil claim. V.A. lodged a cassation appeal. On 15 May 2007 the Supreme Court quashed the disputed decision and remitted the case to the Kaunas Regional Court for re-examination. 11.  On 24 September 2007 the Kaunas Regional Court upheld the first‑instance decision of 14 April 2006 and allowed V.A.’s claim. 12.  On 30 November 2007 the Supreme Court refused to examine the applicants’ cassation appeal, on the grounds that it did not raise any important legal issues.


4.  The applicant was born in 1956 and lives in Kosice. 5.  The applicant is a sports journalist. On 18 November 1997 a local daily newspaper published an article containing negative remarks about the applicant's professionalism, ethics and education. 6.  On 26 January 1998 the applicant brought a libel action in the Košice II District Court (Okresný súd) against the chief editor of the daily and “his office”. He sought a judicial order that the defendants publish a correction of the libellous information. In the course of the action there have been several corporate and personal changes on the side of the defendants causing ambiguity as to their standing to be sued in the case. 7.  On 25 March and 18 May 1998, respectively, the District Court invited the applicant to submit further information and to pay the court fee. The applicant complied on 2 April and 26 May 1998, respectively. 8.  On 21 December 1998 the applicant amended the action and submitted a further specification of who the defendants were. 9.  On 22 March 1999 the District Court ruled that the modification of the scope of the action was impermissible. On 30 December 1999 the Košice Regional Court (Krajský súd) overturned this decision on the applicant's appeal and approved the modification. 10.  Between 1 October 1998 and 2 October 2001 the District Court held 3 hearings that were adjourned due to the absence of the defendant. Another 2 hearings were scheduled but did not take place because the judge was absent for health reasons. 11.  On 21 August 2002 the applicant lodged a complaint under Article 127 of the Constitution with the Constitutional Court (Ústavný súd). He contended that the length of the proceedings in his action was excessive and claimed 935,000 Slovakian korunas[1] (SKK) in damages. 12.  On 16 April 2003 the Constitutional Court found that there had been a violation of the applicant's right to a hearing “without undue delay” (Article 48 § 2 of the Constitution) and within a “reasonable time” (Article 6 § 1 of the Convention) in his action. The Constitutional Court ordered that the District Court proceed with the matter promptly; pay the applicant SKK 40,000[2] by way of compensation in respect of non‑pecuniary damage; and reimburse the applicant's legal costs. The subject‑matter of the proceedings was neither legally nor factually complex. The applicant had caused no delays and what was at stake for him called for special diligence. However, for almost 3 years, the District Court had proceeded with the case inefficiently. 13.  Between 12 December 2002 and 1 February 2005 the District Court took several decisions ascertaining who the defendants in the action were and correcting clerical errors in those decisions. The applicant challenged these decisions by way of appeals (odvolanie) and appeals on points of law (dovolanie). The latter were declared inadmissible on 25 August and 21 October 2005 as, in the circumstances, no such remedy was available.
In this period, the District Court sought information from the Registry of Inhabitants concerning the address of one of the defendants and requested that court mail be served on him by the police. 14.  According to the applicant, in the meantime the newspaper in question ceased to exist. 15.  On 23 January 2006 the District Court requested the applicant to identify the defendants of his action in accordance with the applicable procedural requirements and the current state of affairs. He responded on 2 February 2006. The District Court then made further inquiries into who was to be sued in the case. 16.  On 15 June 2006 the District Court held a hearing. It was adjourned and the applicant was again requested to specify who the defendants were. The proceedings are still pending.


5.  The applicant was born in 1956 and lives in the village of Angisa, Ajarian Autonomous Republic (“the AAR”), Georgia. 6.  On 15 February 2006 a criminal investigation was launched by the Ministry of the Interior of the AAR into the activities of a Mr A.K., on account of his alleged association with the criminal underworld, under Article 223(1) of the Criminal Code. Notably, he was suspected of being a “thief in law” (for an exact definition of this term, see paragraphs 18‑20 below) who ran criminal syndicates and participated in the settlement of various private disputes through criminal actions. In the course of the investigation, a number of relevant witnesses were questioned – the officers of the prisons where Mr A.K. had served his previous prison terms, his family members and other close persons, all of whom confirmed that Mr A.K. had indeed obtained, through the criminal ritual of “baptism”, the title of a “thief in law” in 1999. Since then he had participated in management of the “thieves’ underworld” (a well-organised network of criminal syndicates; for more details see paragraphs 21-22 below), in accordance with the special rules regulating the conduct of members of the criminal underworld. 7.  On 5 March 2006 a search warrant was issued in respect of Mr A.K., who was living at that time in either Ukraine or Russia. According to the findings of that investigation, the fugitive suspect had been in regular telephone contact with other purported criminal leaders in the AAR, instructing them on how to settle various private disputes in the region. The subsequent judicially authorised tapping of Mr A.K.’s telephone conversation showed that one of the persons who had been receiving regular instructions from the “thief in law” was the applicant. Consequently, the criminal probe was expanded to include the latter’s activities. 8.  On 31 July 2006 the applicant and another person, Mr Y.A., were arrested on suspicion of being members of the “thieves’ underworld”, an offence punishable under Article 223(1) § 1 of the Criminal Code. When questioned on the same day, the applicant confirmed that he had already known Mr A.K. for thirty years and was aware that he possessed the criminal title of a “thief in law”. The applicant added that a thief in law was, in his opinion, “a righteous man (კაი კაცობა)”. 9.  On 29 September 2006 the criminal investigation against Mr A.K., the applicant and Mr Y.A., was terminated, and the case was transmitted by the prosecution service to a trial court. 10.  By a judgment of 27 March 2007, the Batumi City Court convicted the applicant and Mr Y.A. of being members of the “thieves’ underworld” (Article 223(1) § 1 of the Criminal Code), sentencing them to seven and five years’ imprisonment respectively, whilst Mr A.K. was convicted of being a “thief in law” (Article 223(1) § 2 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced to ten years in prison. 11.  The activities imputed to the applicant were described by the court, in general terms, as follows:
“Acknowledging and giving recognition to the thieves’ underworld, [the applicant] has publicly expressed his support for it through his own lifestyle, and has been actively involved in achieving the goals of this underworld... by obtaining profits for its members and for other persons, and by terrorising and exercising coercion with respect to ordinary individuals; [the applicant] has disseminated the special rules of the thieves’ underworld through his own actions, and by assisting the thief in law in running this underworld.” 12.  More specifically, the finding of the applicant’s guilt was based on the following three episodes, the reality of which had been confirmed by statements from numerous pertinent witnesses, examined during both the investigation stage and the trial, and evidence obtained by tapping the telephone lines of the applicant, the other convicts and other relevant persons. 13.  Firstly, the City Court established that Mr A.K., generally acknowledged to be one of the most authoritative criminal bosses in the region, had requested the applicant to settle a dispute over an apartment between his mother-in-law and another individual. The court accused the applicant of accepting that task and becoming involved, between 24 June and July 2006, in unofficial adjudication of the dispute, using Mr A.K.’s criminal authority. In reply, the applicant unsuccessfully argued that he had merely wished to help the woman, who was his close acquaintance, to have the dispute settled by friendly agreement, as indeed the parties had been invited to do during a civil court hearing of their case at the relevant time; he had been unaware that such ordinary conduct was a criminal offence. He did not contest that he had indeed been asked by Mr A.K., his old friend, to look into the dispute. 14.  Secondly, the City Court established that the same co-accused “thief in law”, Mr A.K., had requested the applicant, on 24 July 2006, to establish the whereabouts in Batumi of two young men, aged 20-25 years, who had refused to pay a fare to a private taxi driver. The applicant was asked to persuade the young men, using his own authority as a senior member of the criminal world, and the authority of the more influential Mr A.K., to settle the debt towards the driver. Implicitly acknowledging that he had indeed been requested to look into this second private dispute by Mr A.K., the applicant unsuccessfully argued that he had not taken any action in practice and thus could not understand why he should be held responsible for something which had not occurred. 15.  Lastly, the City Court relied on the fact that on 8 July 2006 the applicant, when visiting an imprisoned acquaintance who was considered by members of the “thieves’ underworld” to be a promising young man, that is, a future “thief in law”, the applicant, in addition to discussing financial issues relating to the kitty (obshyak), the common fund belonging to the “thieves’ underworld”, had also informed him that the Minister of the Interior might soon lose his post, which would then naturally lead to reinforcement of the authority of “thieves’ in law” and of the relevant rules of conduct in the criminal world. With respect to this third episode, the applicant unsuccessfully argued before the court that he had merely expressed his opinion about the personality of the Minister of the Interior and that he should not be punished for that. 16.  On 10 July 2007 the Kutaisi Court of Appeal, dismissing the applicant’s appeal in which he reiterated all of his previous arguments, fully upheld his conviction of 27 March 2007. 17.  By a decision of 29 February 2008, the Supreme Court of Georgia rejected the applicant’s cassation appeal as inadmissible, thus terminating the criminal proceedings against him.


5.  The applicant was born in 1979 and lives in Baku. 6.  He is a person with a Category 2 disability. 7.  The applicant is an independent journalist and the chairman of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (“IRFS”), a non-governmental organisation specialising in the protection of journalists’ rights. He also worked as a reporter for the news agency Turan Information Agency. 8.  On 14 June 2008 a group called the “Che Guevara Fan Club” held a gathering at a private café in Baku to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the birth of Che Guevara. The café in question was located in the basement of a building in the city centre and there were about twenty-five attendees in the gathering. The applicant, accompanied by two other colleagues (R.A. and M.H.) from the IRFS, attended this gathering. 9.  The gathering began at noon and approximately thirty minutes later about thirty police officers entered the café. Some of them were in police uniform and others were in plain clothes. They suspended the gathering and announced that they were going to take the attendees to the police station. 10.  The applicant identified himself, informing the police officers that he was a journalist and the chairman of the IRFS. He had with him his identity card and the card confirming that he was the chairman of the IRFS. The applicant also asked the police officers to identify themselves and to release his arrested colleagues. He further informed the Turan Information Agency by telephone about the police intervention. In response, one of the police officers, who was apparently in charge of the intervention, ordered other police officers to take the applicant to the police station. 11.  According to the applicant, he was taken to a police car by four police officers, who used force against him. In particular, they punched and kicked him in the stomach. 12.  In support of his version of events, the applicant relied on written eyewitness statements from R.A. and M.H., dated respectively 23 June 2008 and 24 June 2008, who confirmed that the applicant had informed the police officers that he was a journalist and the chairman of the IRFS before asking the police officers to release them. A police officer had then instructed other police officers to arrest the applicant and they had used force against him while taking him to a police car. 13.  After his arrival at the police station, the applicant had been separated from the others who had been arrested and had been taken to the office of the Deputy Head of Nasimi District Police Station no. 22, A.K. Four police officers had entered the room and had threatened the applicant in the presence of A.K. One of the police officers, O.A., had, according to the applicant, shouted at him and had taken out his gun. Hitting his gun on the table, he had shouted “I can eliminate you”, “I can arrest you”, “I can send you to jail”. Then he had pushed down the applicant’s head by pressing on the back of his neck so that his head hit the table. The applicant had warned the police officer that he was a person with a Category 2 disability and that his health was fragile. At that point O.A. had struck the applicant in the neck with his elbow; as a result, the applicant had lost consciousness. 14.  In support of his version of events, the applicant relied on the above-mentioned written eyewitness statements from R.A. and M.H. In particular, R.A. submitted in his witness statement that, when he was in the corridor in the police station, the applicant was taken to the office of the Deputy Head of Nasimi District Police Station no. 22. He had then heard someone who was shouting at the applicant saying “I can eliminate you”, “I can send you to jail”. 15.  When the applicant regained consciousness, he had asked the police officers to call an ambulance because he did not feel well. They allegedly refused to do so, but had taken him out of the room. The applicant’s colleagues had seen him in the corridor and had asked other members of the IRFS to call an ambulance. They had also informed the media about the applicant’s ill-treatment by the police. 16.  In the meantime, some journalists, human rights defenders and youth movement activists who had been informed of the arrest of the applicant and his colleagues had begun gathering in front of the police station. 17.  At around 4 p.m. two police officers accompanied the applicant to the door leading out of the police station, but the applicant had been able to take only a few steps and had then again lost consciousness. In support of his version of events, the applicant relied on written eyewitness statements from I.A. (journalist), R.H. (civil society activist) and M.A. (director of the Turan Information Agency), who were at that time present in front of the police station. The witnesses stated that, when the applicant was taken out of the police station, he was unconscious and was taken by an ambulance, which was called by them, to hospital. 18.  At 5.20 p.m. the applicant was admitted to hospital with the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury and contusion of the soft tissues around the nape of his neck. The applicant remained in the intensive care unit of the hospital for four days. He was released from hospital on 25 June 2008. 19.  The events of 14 June 2008 attracted significant public and media interest both inside the country and internationally. In particular, a number of human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, expressed concern over the applicant’s arrest and ill-treatment by the police, asking the domestic authorities to conduct an effective investigation into the incident. 20.  On 14 June 2008 the police intervened in the gathering in question on the basis of a complaint from people living in the neighbourhood of the café, who complained about noise and the behaviour of those attending. The applicant and other attendees who were unable to produce their identity cards were taken to the police station but were released once their identity had been established. During his stay at the police station the applicant was not ill-treated by the police. 21.  A criminal inquiry was launched by Nasimi District Police Station no. 22 in connection with the information about the applicant’s admission to the Clinical Medical Centre with injuries. 22.  On 15 June 2008 the applicant was questioned in hospital by an investigator from Nasimi District Police Station no. 22. The applicant described in detail the circumstances of his arrest and detention by the police on 14 June 2008. In particular, he stated that on 14 June 2008 he had attended the gathering commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the birth of Che Guevara, which had been interrupted by a police intervention. When he protested about the arrest of his journalist colleagues on the orders of the police officer who was apparently in charge of the intervention, four police officers forcibly took him to a police car. Following his arrival at Nasimi District Police Station no. 22, he was taken to the room of the Deputy Head of the police station. Other police officers were also in the room and one of them, who was wearing black sunglasses, began insulting him. He then began threatening him, took out his gun and shouted at him. The same police officer also struck him in the neck, as a result of which he lost consciousness. The police officers then took him out of the room. 23.  While the criminal inquiry was still pending, on 17 June 2008 the spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, E.Z., in an interview with the Turan Information Agency, stated as follows concerning the applicant’s arrest and alleged ill-treatment by the police:
“The statements made to the media by the chairman of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, Emin Huseynov, alleging that he was subjected to duress by the police are not true. Even the allegations published in the media are contradictory.”
He further continued:
“On 14 June a group of people held an unauthorised gathering at a café. The police requested the interruption of the unauthorised gathering. Twenty people were taken to Nasimi District Police Station no. 22 in order to establish their identity and to conduct the relevant explanatory interviews (izahat işləri). They were all released following the explanatory interviews. At that time, Emin Huseynov said that he did not feel well. An ambulance was called immediately. It was established during the medical examination that his health problem was related to his previous diseases. It was established during the medical examination that E. Huseynov had lost consciousness because his blood pressure reached 190.” 24.  According to the applicant, he was examined by a forensic expert in hospital on 18 June 2008. The forensic report dated 23 June 2008 provides that the examination began on 15 June 2008 and ended on 20 June 2008 without specifying the exact date of the applicant’s examination by the forensic expert in hospital. The forensic report of 23 June 2008 reads:
“Questions addressed to the forensic expert: 1.  What kind of injuries are there on E. Huseynov’s body? What are their degree of gravity and characteristics? In which order and with which instrument were they inflicted? Could these injuries be sustained as a result of a fall, a beating or were they inflicted by E. Huseynov himself? 2.  Does the date of infliction of the injuries on the body of citizen E. Huseynov correspond to the date indicated in the descriptive part of the decision?
Information about the case
It appears from the decision that a report in connection with the information that citizen E. Huseynov, who resides in ..., has sustained injuries was assigned to me. E. Huseynov, who was questioned during the inquiry, stated that on 14 June 2008 a person that he did not know had struck him in the neck in Nasimi District Police Station no. 22. Citizen E. Huseynov attended the Clinical Medical Centre in connection with his injuries.
The examination was carried out in the resuscitation and intensive care unit of the Clinical Medical Centre of the Baku City Main Health Department in the presence of the lawyer Rashid Hajili. According to the person examined, at approximately 12.30 p.m. – 1 p.m. on 14 June 2008 during an event dedicated to the eightieth anniversary of the birth of Che Guevara in café Alaturka, plain clothes persons took him and other attendees to Nasimi District Police Station no. 22. He was struck in his head at that moment and later at the police station. He replies in detail and precisely to the questions about the incident and other questions. 2.  No injuries or objective signs of injury were noticed on the hairy part of the head, the face and other parts of the body.
It appears from medical record no. 5190 of the patient of the Clinical Medical Centre of the Baku City Main Health Department that at 5.20 p.m. on 14 June 2008 E. Huseynov, who is 29 years old, was admitted to the resuscitation and intensive care unit by a team from emergency unit no. 2 with the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury and contusion of the soft tissues around the nape of the neck (qapalı kəllə beyin travması, ənsə nahiyəsinin yumşaq toxumlarının əzilməsi). It was not possible for him to describe his complaints when he was admitted to hospital. According to those who brought him to hospital, the patient sustained the injury as a result of a beating. His general state was serious. The skin and mucous membrane were of ordinary color. The respiration was vesicular. The respiratory rate was 19 breaths per minute, the blood pressure was 190/120 mm Hg, the heart pulse was beating 120 per minute. The abdomen was not hard and there was no pain. Neurological status: his conscious awareness was impaired to the point of deafness. His reaction to bright light was positive, he turned away from it. His pupils and tendon reflexes were at equal distance from each side and they were alive. Meningitis symptoms and pathological reflexes were not observed. In the examination no injury was noticed on the skin. Diagnosis: neurological reaction (nevrotik reaksiya). At 5.25 p.m. on 14 June 2008 the patient, who was in a serious neurological state (nevrotik vəziyyət), was directly admitted from the admission unit to the resuscitation and intensive care unit. His conscious awareness was in soporous state. The tendon and corneal reflexes were alive. The skin and mucous membrane which may be observed by eye were pale. The blood pressure was 190/110 mm Hg, the heart pulse was beating 116 per minute. The respiration was normal and sufficient. The urination was normal. Hb-120 g/l, leucocytes 8,4-10 g/l. On 15 June 2008 there was no pathological change in side projected X-ray examinations of side and neck vertebras of the cranium. At 10 a.m. on 15 June 2008 the comment of the doctor on duty: the patient’s state was stable. He was conscious and replied to questions. His pupils were at equal distance from each side and corneal reflexes were alive. There were no meningitis elements. The skin and observable mucous membrane were pale ... (illegible), the heart pulse was beating 96 per minute, the blood pressure was 130/90 mm Hg ... (illegible), the respiratory rate was 20 breaths per minute ... (illegible). His tongue was wet, the abdomen was not hard, the urination was adequate. It was written in the summary of the cerebral computed tomography opinion dated 17 June 2008 that intraparenchymal traumatic pathological changes were not observed in E. Huseynov. In the computed tomography examination of 17 June 2008 pathological change in the neck area and traumatic change in the neck part of the vertebral column were not revealed. In the ultrasound examination of 17 June 2008 no liquid was revealed in the abdomen and there was no hematoma in the parenchymal organs. It was noted in the log dated 17 June 2008 that an examination was carried out by the doctors, the experts in neurotrauma, A.Y. and Q.I., the head of the resuscitation and intensive care unit, V.R., the experts in resuscitation, C.N. and F.T., and the following were noted: his general state was stable, he complained about headaches. The blood pressure was 120/70 mm Hg, the heart pulse was beating 88 per minute. Neurological status: he was conscious and adequately replied to questions. His pupils and tendon reflexes were at equal distance from each side and they were alive. No change was observed in the cranial-brain nerves. There were no meningitis symptoms. Taking into account the patient’s subjective complaints, it was desirable to subject him to a computed tomography examination. Bearing in mind the patient’s state, it was decided that the further examination and treatment of the patient be continued in the neurotrauma department. It appears from the subsequent log that the patient was examined jointly by the assistant professor M. and the head of the department. It was further indicated that E. Huseynov’s illness was related to extended osteochondrosis of the vertebral column, numerous disc protrusions in the back and neck areas (C 4-5, C 5-6, C 6-7, L 3-4, L 5, S 1), chronic dyscirculatory encephalopathy and vestibulopathy. His treatment in connection with the above-mentioned diseases is ongoing. Clinical diagnosis: neurological reaction, vertebrogenic syndrome, C 4-5, C 5-6, C 6-7 intervertebral disc protrusions, paroxysmal vein distention.
The forensic expert: C.A.
Conclusion
Relying on the forensic examination of E. Huseynov, born in 1979, and the content of the medical documents, I conclude as follows in reply to questions addressed in the decision: 2.  E. Huseynov’s in-patient treatment was related to his previous diseases - extended osteochondrosis of the vertebral column, numerous disc protrusions in the back and neck areas (C 4-5, C 5-6, C 6-7, L 3-4, L 5, S 1), chronic dyscirculatory encephalopathy and vestibulopathy.” 25.  The applicant was not provided with a copy of the forensic report. 26.  On 25 June 2008 Nasimi District Police Station no. 22 issued an explanation (arayış) concerning the police intervention of 14 June 2008. The relevant part of this document, signed by the Head of Nasimi District Police Station no. 22, M.T., reads:
“On the basis of the information that about fifty people had gathered at café “Alaturka” in the basement of building no. 6 at 28 May Street in Baku on 14 June 2008, at around 1 p.m. police officers from the Baku City Police Office took measures in order to identify the persons gathered in this place and to establish the purpose of the gathering, and twenty-two of them were taken to Nasimi District Police Station no. 22.
After these individuals had arrived at Police Station no. 22 at 1.55 p.m., they were registered in the “apprehended persons’ registration log” (gətirilmiş şəxslərin qeydiyyat kitabı) and were released at 4.30 p.m. At the police station, their identity was established and statements were taken from nine of them in order to establish the purpose of their gathering in that location.
... At the police station, their identity was established and they were released following a “prophylactic conversation” (profilaktik söhbət). It was also established that Huseynov Emin Rafik oglu, who presented a document stating that he was the chairman of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, was among the persons apprehended...” 27.  By a decision of 27 June 2008, the investigator refused to institute criminal proceedings, finding that there was no evidence that the applicant had been ill-treated by the police. The relevant part of the decision reads:
“It was established during the examination of patients’ reception log in the Clinical Medical Centre that citizen E. Huseynov was admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of neurological reaction at 5.20 p.m. on 14 June 2008. This was also noted in extract no. 5196, dated 20 June 2008, from the patient’s in-patient and out-patient medical record provided by the Clinical Medical Centre.
In connection with the above-mentioned, the forensic report no. 143/TM of 23 June 2008, ordered on 15 June 2008, which was carried out by ... provides in reply to the questions addressed to the expert, on the basis of E. Huseynov’s forensic examination and the content of the medical documents, that no injuries or objective signs of injury (bruise, abrasion, wound, swelling, etc.) were noticed on the body of E. Huseynov and that E. Huseynov’s in-patient treatment was related to his previous diseases - extended osteochondrosis of the vertebral column, numerous disc protrusions in the back and neck areas (C 4-5, C 5-6, C 6-7, L 3-4, L 5, S 1), chronic dyscirculatory encephalopathy and vestibulopathy.
It appears from the evidence collected in connection with the fact that citizen Huseynov Emin Rafik oglu had sustained an injury and from the forensic report dated 23 June 2008 ... that there were no injuries or objective signs of injury on E. Huseynov’s body. As no criminal act has been established in this respect, it is appropriate to refuse to institute criminal proceedings.” 28.  The applicant was not informed of the decision of 27 June 2008 concerning the investigator’s refusal to institute criminal proceedings. 29.  On 16 March 2009 the applicant lodged a criminal complaint with the Nasimi District Court. Relying on Articles 3, 5, 10 and 11 of the Convention, he complained that he had been ill-treated by the police during his arrest and whilst in police custody, and that the domestic authorities had failed to conduct an effective investigation in this respect. The applicant further complained that he had been unlawfully deprived of his liberty and that the police intervention of 14 June 2008 had been unlawful and had constituted an unjustified interference with his rights to freedom of expression and assembly. The applicant pointed out, in particular, that the investigator had questioned neither the police officers who had been involved in the ill-treatment nor the other witnesses. He also stated that he had not learned about the existence of the investigator’s decision of 27 June 2008 until 3 March 2009 and that he had never been provided with a copy of the forensic report. 30.  On 31 March 2009 the Nasimi District Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint, finding the investigator’s decision lawful. The court’s decision was silent as to the applicant’s particular complaints. The relevant part of the decision reads:
“... It was established during the examination of patients’ reception log in the Clinical Medical Centre that citizen E. Huseynov was admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of neurological reaction at 5.20 p.m. on 14 June 2008. This was also noted in extract no. 5196, dated 20 June 2008, from the patient’s in-patient and out-patient medical record provided by the Clinical Medical Centre.
It appears from the forensic report ... that no injuries or objective signs of injury (bruise, abrasion, wound, swelling, etc.) were noticed on E. Huseynov’s body. It was noted that E. Huseynov’s in-patient treatment was related to the previous diseases ... that he had suffered.
Therefore, the court considers that in carrying out a preliminary examination in compliance with Article 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for establishing whether there were sufficient basis to institute criminal proceedings the investigator took all the necessary steps and, as it was not established that there had been a criminal element in the examined fact, a justified and lawful decision on refusal to institute criminal proceedings was adopted.” 31.  On 6 April 2009 the applicant appealed against this decision, reiterating his previous complaints. He also complained that the investigator had not arranged an identity parade including the police officer O.A. and neither had he questioned the police officers involved in his arrest and detention and, in particular, the Deputy Head of the Nasimi District Police Station no. 22 in whose room and whose presence he had been ill-treated. He had failed to obtain video recordings from security cameras situated in the police station in question. The applicant also disputed the conclusions of the forensic report, pointing out that he had not been provided with a copy of it. 32.  On 27 April 2009 the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance court’s decision. 33.  In the meantime, the applicant also lodged a civil action against the Nasimi District Police Office, asking for compensation. Relying on Articles 3, 5, 10 and 11 of the Convention, he complained that he had been ill-treated by the police, that he had been arrested and taken to the police station unlawfully, and that the police intervention in the gathering had constituted an unlawful interference with his rights to freedom of expression and assembly. In support of his claim, the applicant relied on written eyewitness statements from R.A. and M.H., who stated that police officers had used force against the applicant during his arrest. They also stated that when the applicant was in the room of the Deputy Head of Nasimi District Police Station no. 22, they had heard someone shouting at the applicant “I can eliminate you”, “I can send you to jail”. When the applicant had been taken out of the room, he did not feel well. 34.  On 25 July 2008 the Nasimi District Court refused to admit his action, finding that it did not comply with the procedural requirements for lodging a complaint. 35.  On 2 September 2008 the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance court’s decision. 36.  On 17 November 2008 the Supreme Court quashed the Baku Court of Appeal’s decision and remitted the case to the lower courts for a new examination. 37.  On 17 June 2009 the Nasimi District Court, having examined the applicant’s action on the merits, decided to dismiss it. The court found that the applicant had been taken to the police station because he had not had his identity card on him. The court also held that the police intervention had been lawful, since the gathering at the café in the city centre disturbed other people present and consequently the police had intervened. As regards the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment, the court held that it had not been established that the applicant had been ill-treated by the police. The relevant part of the judgment reads:
“It was established at the court hearing that an investigator from Nasimi District Police Station no. 22 had examined the fact that E. Huseynov had sustained injuries, that it had been decided to refuse to institute criminal proceedings on the basis of the collected materials because no criminal act had been established, and that this decision had not been challenged.
Moreover, it was established at the court hearing on the basis of witness statements that the applicant had been taken to Nasimi District Police Station no. 22 because he had not had his identity card on him, that he had been detained for a certain period of time, and that he had been then released following the establishment of his identity.
It was also established at the court that E. Huseynov had been previously sustained brain injury and regularly underwent medical treatment in Azerbaijan and abroad for a long period of time. Unexpected health problems were previously observed in his case and the fact that he had felt unwell after having been brought to the police station was not related to any duress, but to his previous illness.
 Furthermore, it was not established at the court hearing that the applicant had sustained a bodily injury or subjected to physical violence, beaten or been under duress at the police station.” 38.  On 3 August 2009 the applicant appealed against this decision, reiterating his previous complaints. 39.  On 14 October 2009 the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. 40.  On 7 May 2010 the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ judgments.


10.  The first, second and third applicants were born in 1950, 1973 and 1971, respectively, and currently live in Belgrade, Serbia. 11.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 12.  The first applicant, her husband and the other two applicants were holders of a specially protected tenancy concerning a flat in Podgorica (nosioci odnosno korisnici stanarskog prava), Montenegro, where they lived. 13.  In 1989 the first applicant and her husband divorced and the former was granted custody of the other two applicants. 14.  On 26 January 1994 the first applicant obtained a decision from the Court of First Instance (Osnovni sud u Podgorici) declaring her the sole holder of the specially protected tenancy on the family’s flat. In addition, her former husband (“the respondent”) was ordered to vacate the flat within fifteen days from the date when the decision became final. 15.  On 27 April 1994 the decision of the Court of First Instance was upheld on appeal by the High Court (Viši sud u Podgorici) and thereby became final. 16.  Given that the respondent did not comply with the court order to vacate the flat, on 31 May 1994 the first applicant instituted a formal judicial enforcement procedure before the Court of First Instance. 17.  The enforcement order was issued on the same date. 18.  On 8 July 1994 the bailiffs attempted to evict the respondent together with his new wife and minor children but the eviction was adjourned because he threatened to use force. 19.  On 14 July 1994 they tried again, this time assisted by the police, but apparently the planned eviction was adjourned for the same reason. 20.  On 15 July 1994 the first applicant bought the flat and became its owner. 21.  On 26 October 1994 the bailiffs and the police once again failed to evict the respondent who kept threatening the first applicant in their presence and bore arms on his person. There also appear to have been additional weapons, ammunition and even a bomb in the flat at the time. The police took the respondent to their station but released him shortly afterwards without pressing charges. 22.  On 28 November 1994 and 16 March 1995 another two scheduled evictions failed, the latter due to the “respondent’s request for the provision of social assistance” in respect of his minor children. 23.  On 23 October 1995 the first applicant gifted the flat to the second and third applicants. 24.  On 3 June 1996 and 1 August 1996, respectively, another two scheduled evictions failed. 25.  On 3 June 1998 the Ministry of Justice informed the first applicant that the Court of First Instance had committed to enforce the eviction order before the end of the month. 26.  On 27 October 1998 and 1 November 1999 another two scheduled evictions failed. 27.  In the meantime, on 13 August 1999, the Real Estate Directorate (Direkcija za nekretnine) issued a formal decision recognising the second and the third applicants as the new owners of the flat in question. 28.  In March of 2004 another eviction was attempted but failed. In the presence of police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, bailiffs and the enforcement judge herself, as well as his wife and their children, the respondent threatened to blow up the entire flat. His neighbours also seem to have opposed the eviction, some of them apparently going so far as to physically confront the police. 29.  Throughout the years the first applicant complained to numerous State bodies about the non-enforcement of the judgment rendered in her favour, but to no avail. 30.  On 9 February 2006 another scheduled enforcement failed because the respondent had threatened to “spill blood” rather than be evicted. 31.  On 5 May 2006 and 31 January 2007, respectively, the enforcement judge sent letters to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, seeking assistance. 32.  On 15 February 2007 the enforcement judge was told, at a meeting with the police, that the eviction in question was too dangerous to be carried out, that the respondent could blow up the entire building by means of a remote control device, and that the officers themselves were not equipped to deal with a situation of this sort. The police therefore proposed that the applicants be provided with another flat instead of the one in question. 33.  On 19 November 2007 the enforcement judge urged the Ministry of Justice to secure the kind of police assistance needed for the respondent’s ultimate eviction. 34.  On 26 March 2004 the second applicant, on her own behalf and on behalf of the third applicant, authorised the first applicant to sell the flat in question. 35.  On 30 January 2006 the second and third applicants authorised the first applicant, inter alia, to represent them in the enforcement proceedings. 36.  The applicants maintain that the gift contract of 1995 (see paragraph 23 above) and the said powers of attorney were submitted to the enforcement court. The first applicant was therefore the second and third applicants’ legal representative in the enforcement proceedings.


5.  The Christian Democratic People’s Party (“the CDPP”) is a political party in the Republic of Moldova which was represented in Parliament and was in opposition at the time of the events. 6.  On 3 December 2003 the applicant party applied to the Chişinău Municipal Council for an authorisation to hold a protest demonstration in the Square of the Great National Assembly, in front of the Government’s building, on 25 January 2004. According to the application, the organisers intended to express views on the functioning of the democratic institutions in Moldova, the respect for human rights and the Moldo-Russian conflict in Transdniestria. 7.  On 20 January 2004 the Chişinău Municipal Council rejected the applicant party’s request on the ground that “it had convincing evidence of the fact that during the meeting, there will be calls to a war of agression, ethnic hatred and public violence”. 8.  The applicant party challenged the refusal in court and argued, inter alia, that the reasons relied upon by the Municipal Council were entirely baseless. 9.  On 23 January 2004 the Chişinău Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant party’s action. The court found that the Municipal Council’s refusal to authorise the CDPP’s demonstration was justified because the leaflets disseminated by it contained such slogans as “Down with Voronin’s totalitarian regime” and “Down with Putin’s occupation regime”. According to the Court of Appeal, these slogans constituted a call to a violent overthrow of the constitutional regime and to hatred towards the Russian people. In this context, the court recalled that during a previous demonstration organised by the applicant party to protest against the presence of the Russian military in Transdniestria, the protesters burned a picture of the President of the Russian Federation and a Russian flag. 10.  The applicant party appealed against the above decision arguing, inter alia, that the impugned slogans could not have reasonably been interpreted as a call to a violent overthrow of the Government or as a call to ethnic hatred and that the refusal to authorise the meeting constituted a breach of its rights guaranteed by Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention. 11.  On 21 April 2004 the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the applicant party’s appeal and confirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal.


6.  The applicants are residents of Batalova Vodenitsa, a neighbourhood of Sofia. They describe themselves as being of Roma origin. 7.  Unlike some other European countries, where the Roma often have an itinerant way of life, in Bulgaria, at least since the 1960s, the great majority of the Roma live a settled life. Typically, Bulgarian towns feature one or more predominantly Roma neighbourhoods in non-central areas. 8.  Some of the applicants or their parents and in some cases their grand‑parents moved to Batalova Vodenitsa at the end of the 1960s and in the 1970s. Others are more recent arrivals who settled there in the 1990s. 9.  In the 1960s land in the neighbourhood in question was expropriated by the State and cleared in the context of the authorities’ housing construction policy. A number of blocks of flats were constructed there, but the plots currently inhabited by the applicants remained vacant, having been earmarked for a green area, which was never landscaped. 10.  The applicants’ families built their homes on State land without any authorisation. The area thus gradually developed into a small Roma settlement. It appears that between 200 and 300 persons live there. 11.  Most of the buildings are single-storey houses. There is no sewage or plumbing. The inhabitants use water from two public fountains. 12.  Most applicants’ registered addresses are at their homes in Batalova Vodenitsa. Many of them are registered at one and the same address although they live in separate buildings which do not figure on any official area plan. Most of the applicants live in their houses with their families, including young children or grandchildren. 13.  The applicants never sought to regularise the buildings they had constructed. This was in principle possible through applications for building permits and planning approval. According to the applicants, making such applications was difficult for them as they are poor and live their lives in the Roma community, isolated from the rest of society. 14.  It is undisputed by the parties that the applicants’ homes do not meet the basic requirements of the relevant construction and safety regulations and cannot be legalised without substantial reconstruction. 15.  In 1987 the local building plan was amended and the construction of dwellings was envisaged on the plots in question. The plan was never implemented. 16.  Following a legislative reform, in 1996 the land occupied by the applicants became the property of the Sofia municipality. 17.  Until 2005, the State and municipal authorities never took steps to remove the applicants and their families. 18.  Under the relevant law the applicants cannot obtain ownership of the land they occupy. Until 1996 the provisions on acquisitive prescription did not apply in respect of State and municipal land. Since 1996, these provisions, under which a ten-year period of possession may suffice for the acquisition of real property, apply to most categories of municipal land. However, in 2006, shortly before the expiry of ten years after the 1996 amendment, Parliament suspended the running of prescription periods in respect of State and municipal land. The suspension has been extended several times and is currently in force until 31 December 2014 (sections 79 and 86 of the Property Act and the transitional provisions thereto). 19.  According to a statement by a Mr B. T., a Roma resident of Batalova Vodenitsa, his parents are the lawful owners of their house there and possess a notarial deed. A copy of the notarial deed has not been submitted by the applicants. Neither Mr B.T. nor his parents were among the addressees of the removal order of 17 September 2005 (see paragraph 31 below). 20.  From the beginning of the 1990s tension grew in several regions of Sofia between the inhabitants of Roma settlements and their non-Roma neighbours. The issue of Roma settlements, often referred to as “ghettos”, was widely debated in the media. Many commentators urged the emptying of all “Roma ghettos” in Sofia. This line was supported by a number of leading politicians. Occasionally, the views of Roma organisations were also published. 21.  Between 2003 and 2006 several demonstrations were held by non-Roma residents of different areas in Sofia seeking the eviction of their Roma neighbours. Other demonstrations were held by non-Roma persons protesting at news of plans by the authorities to resettle in their neighbourhoods Roma families to be removed from other parts of the city. 22.  It appears that on an unspecified date non-Roma residents of Batalova Vodenitsa formed an association with the aim to bring pressure to bear on the authorities in relation to the applicants’ unlawful settlement. 23.  Most complaints against the Roma inhabitants of Batalova Vodenitsa concerned sanitary risks and repulsive odours caused by the absence of sewage and the fact that the inhabitants kept animals (allegedly including sheep, pigs, hens and horses). Also, many non-Roma residents of the area believed that the Roma inhabitants were responsible for numerous offences, including physical assault, theft and damage to public and private property. The protesters also resented on aesthetic grounds the presence of unsightly shanty houses in the area. 24.  The municipal authorities in Sofia perceived as a serious problem the fact that since 1990 many Roma had moved to Sofia and settled in illegal Roma settlements, thus increasing their overpopulation and generating more illegal construction and sanitary problems. 25.  In March 2000 an unspecified number of individuals, apparently persons who had obtained decisions restoring their property rights over expropriated land in the Batalova Vodenitsa area, complained to the Sofia municipal council that “persons of Roma origin” were unlawfully occupying land in the area. Having examined the matter, on 11 December 2000 the municipal council decided to offer the restored owners other municipal land in exchange for their land. It also invited the mayor of Sofia to develop a plan for the resolution of the “problem as a whole”. No such plan appears to have been adopted. 26.  In 2003 the local building plan in Batalova Vodenitsa was modified by the municipal authorities, who planned to develop the area. 27.  On 2 March 2005 the Sofia municipal council approved in principle the transfer of title to plots of land in Batalova Vodenitsa to Mr K., a private investor. The transfer was effected on 16 May 2006. The plots of land in question were adjacent to the land occupied by the applicants. It is unclear whether Mr K. ever realised any development project. 28.  On 29 August 2005 municipal officials visited the Batalova Vodenitsa neighbourhood and issued a document certifying that the applicants and other persons occupied the land. 29.  On 8 September 2005, Ms S., the district mayor, invited all or almost all residents – approximately 180 Roma, including the applicants – to leave their homes within seven days as they were occupying municipal land unlawfully. The text referred to section 65 of the Municipal Property Act and contained a list of the names of its addressees and also a warning that failure to comply would result in removal by the police. 30.  The applicants filed an appeal. On 15 September 2005 municipal officials issued a document certifying that the residents concerned had not left the area. 31.  As a result, on 17 September 2005 the mayor ordered their forcible removal on 27 September 2005. The order listed individually the names of all those concerned. The mayor also stated her intention to secure a decision for the demolition of the applicants’ houses in accordance with the Building Planning Act (Закон за устройство на територията). 32.  The applicants asked the Sofia City Court to stay their removal pending the examination of their appeal against the removal order. The court granted their request. 33.  On 28 September 2005 a committee representing the Roma residents of the area signed an agreement with the municipal authorities in Sofia according to which the municipality would offer alternative housing to the persons registered as Batalova Vodenitsa residents, whereupon they would be removed. No action was taken by the municipality in execution of this agreement. 34.  The agreement also provided that the committee of representatives would take measures to improve hygiene in the Roma settlement. They also undertook to organise the removal of unauthorised domestic animals kept by residents and keep better order. According to the Government, the situation did not improve. 35.  In the judicial proceedings against the mayor’s order, on 12 January 2006 the Sofia City Court ruled that the removal order was lawful. The applicants appealed. On 12 June 2006, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the City Court’s judgment. 36.  The courts found that the fact that the applicants had not shown a valid legal ground for occupying the land was sufficient to establish that the removal order was lawful. If the applicants considered that they had property rights, it was for them to seek notarial deeds or bring civil proceedings to establish those alleged rights. They had not done so. In these circumstances and having regard to section 92 of the Property Act, their houses were owned by the municipality. 37.  The courts also stated that the applicants’ allegations about violations of the Convention and discrimination were groundless. 38.  The courts ignored as irrelevant under domestic law the applicants’ argument that they should not be removed because they had lived in the area for decades with the authorities’ acquiescence, and their arguments based on the principle of proportionality. 39.  On 21 June 2006, the municipal authorities announced their intention to evict the unlawful residents of Batalova Vodenitsa, including the applicants, by 28 June and to demolish their homes. On 22 June 2006 the district mayor was reported in the press as having stated that the removal order had been issued as a result of numerous complaints by neighbours in relation to the unlawful settlement. 40.  As a result of political pressure, mainly from members of the European Parliament, the authorities did not proceed with the eviction. 41.  In their public declarations the municipal authorities apparently took the stand that the removal of the Batalova Vodenitsa residents was overdue but could not be done immediately because of pressure “from Europe”. Divergent opinions were expressed as to whether the municipality should try to find alternative housing for the residents of Batalova Vodenitsa. In public declarations the mayor of the district stated that this was not possible because the residents concerned had not been registered as persons in need of housing and the municipality could not give them priority over other people who had been on the waiting list for many years. 42.  On an unspecified date shortly after 12 June 2006, Ms S., the mayor of the relevant district, participated in a televised debate concerning the fate of the Roma settlement in Batalova Vodenitsa. She stated, inter alia, that the Roma inhabitants there did not have the right to be registered as persons in need of housing because they were occupying municipal land unlawfully. For that reason, she would not offer them the tenancy of municipal dwellings, there being many other families on the waiting list. The district mayor further stated that the agreement of 28 September 2005 between the mayor of Sofia and a committee of representatives of the Roma families “had been concluded in a pre-electoral period” and that she did not consider herself bound by it. She also stated that the removal order had been upheld by the courts and must be enforced; the fact that the persons concerned had nowhere to go was irrelevant. The mayor further stated that she had received complaints by non-Roma inhabitants of the area and was under a duty to act. 43.  Most of the applicants have not tried to make arrangements to find new homes for their families. Between 2004 and 2007 three of the applicants registered at addresses in other areas of Sofia. In 2005 one of the applicants declared an address in the town of Sandanski as her official address. According to these four applicants, although for short periods they lived outside Batalova Vodenitsa, in dwellings occupied by relatives, their only real home had remained Batalova Vodenitsa. 44.  It appears that after June 2006 negotiations continued between the Roma inhabitants and the municipal authorities regarding possible relocation in temporary municipal housing of those persons in the applicants’ position who had been registered as resident in Batalova Vodenitsa before 1996. Non-governmental organisations defending the rights of the Roma and Government representatives also took part. 45.  Information about intentions to resettle the Batalova Vodenitsa unlawful residents have met with strong opposition from inhabitants of neighbourhoods where such relocation was envisaged. It appears that no viable resettlement plan has ever been elaborated. 46.  In interviews and statements, local officials supported the non-Roma population. In a radio interview in November 2006, the mayor of Ovcha Kupel district in Sofia stated that “the nuisance that a Roma settlement would create [if Roma families were to move into his district] would surpass by far the inconvenience that a refuse tip would create”. He also stated that “Roma families could not expect to live among the citizens as they did not have the necessary culture”. 47.  On 27 June 2008 the municipal authorities served a notice on the inhabitants of the area, including the applicants, requiring them to leave their houses by 10 July 2008, failing which they would be evicted forcibly on 11 July 2008. 48.  The notice was issued in execution of the removal order of September 2005, which was final and enforceable. 49.  On 8 July 2008 the Court indicated to the Government of Bulgaria, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, that the applicants should not be evicted from their houses until 23 July 2008, pending receipt by the Court of detailed information about any arrangements made by the authorities to secure housing for the children, elderly, disabled or otherwise vulnerable individuals to be evicted. 50.  The Government submitted a copy of a statement by Ms S., the district mayor, who indicated that two local social homes could provide five rooms each and that several elderly persons could be housed in a third home. There was no information about any possibility to house families together. 51.  Also, it appears that none of the applicants was willing to be separated from the community and housed in such conditions, not least because it was impossible, according to them, to earn a living outside the community. 52.  On 22 July 2008 Ms S., the district mayor, stated that she had suspended the enforcement of the removal order “pending the resolution of the housing problems of the Batalova Vodenitsa residents”. The order was not quashed. 53.  In the light of this information, the President of the Court’s Fifth Section decided on 23 July 2008 to lift the interim measure of 8 July 2008, specifying that the decision was taken on the assumption that the Court and the applicants would be given sufficient notice of any change in the authorities’ position for consideration to be given to a further measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. 54.  On 23 July 2008 the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues, which includes representatives of non-governmental organisations and is presided over by the Director of the Ethnic and Demographic Matters Directorate at the Council of Ministers, discussed the issue. Representatives of the Sofia municipality were advised to refrain from measures seeking to resolve the problem in Batalova Vodenitsa at the expense of creating tension in other areas. The majority view was that the Roma families living in Batalova Vodenitsa should not be evicted and their homes should not be demolished before a lasting solution was found. 55.  According to a letter from the Director of Ethnic and Demographic Matters, sent in January 2009 in connection with the present application, the Sofia municipality was working on a programme for the revitalisation of Roma neighbourhoods. It was envisaged to construct temporary housing on several municipal plots of land. Partial initial financing of the construction work could be provided by the Government but other sources were needed as well. It was envisaged to encourage the Roma applying for housing to take jobs in the construction work under the relevant social employment schemes. The project’s elaboration, including architectural plans, was allegedly under way. The project concerned Roma families who moved to Batalova Vodenitsa before 1996. Those who settled there more recently had “to return to their previous homes”. 56.  On 12 January 2010, in reply to a letter from residents protesting against the authorities’ failure to evict their Roma neighbours from Batalova Vodenitsa, Ms S., the district mayor, stated that the enforcement of the 2005 eviction order had been postponed under pressure from members of the European Parliament and that the applicants had started proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights. The letter did not mention plans to secure alternative housing for the persons to be evicted. 57.  According to media reports, in May 2010 plans to resettle the inhabitants of Batalova vodenitsa on other State or municipal property were discussed by the municipal authorities. 58.  In their latest submissions of December 2010 the parties have not reported any progress in the realisation of such projects. 59.  According to the applicants, the resettlement plans mentioned by the authorities are nothing more than empty promises. 60.  In March 2006 a ten-year National Programme (2005-2015) for the Improvement of the Housing Conditions of Roma in Bulgaria was adopted by the Council of Ministers in the context of the international initiative entitled Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015. 61.  In September 2007, the Sofia municipal council adopted a plan for the implementation of the ten-year national programme in Sofia for the period 2007-2013. The document includes an analysis of the existing situation in respect of housing. 62.  According to this analysis, overpopulated Roma settlements had formed over the years in Sofia and nothing had been done by the authorities in the past to address the ensuing problems. Having always been a marginalised group with minimal resources, the Roma cannot in practice acquire real property. Traditionally they occupy vacant land and construct makeshift huts. Although most of them, being persons in need of housing, meet the relevant criteria for tenancy of municipal housing, this option does not work in practice owing to several factors, including the limited number of available municipal dwellings and unwillingness on the part of many Roma families to resettle in municipal flats. Their unwillingness could be explained partly by the lack of the necessary resources to cover the related expenses, such as utility bills, and partly by the animosities which often erupt between non-Roma residents of blocks of flats and Roma families moving in. 63.  The ten-year National Programme and the 2007-2013 Sofia plan provide for the following actions, among others: elaborating municipal housing programmes, legalising buildings if they meet the relevant construction standards, constructing sewage and water-supply facilities in Roma neighbourhoods and providing information and assistance to those who apply for municipal housing. 64.  The 2010 Monitoring report on the implementation of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015 programme does not mention any progress having been made in respect of Roma housing. The concluding text of the report contains a recommendation to the relevant institutions and stakeholders to make timely use of the possibilities under Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No. 1080/2006 on the European Regional Development Fund. 65.  According to media reports, in several regions in Bulgaria construction works are under way for the building of dwellings intended to house Roma who have been removed or are to be removed from land which they occupy unlawfully.


5.  The applicant was born in 1961 and lives in Grobelno. 6.  On 2 February 1996 the applicant was injured in a car accident. The perpetrator had insured his liability with the insurance company ZT. 7.  On 7 April 1997 the applicant instituted civil proceedings with the Celje District Court (Okrožno sodišče v Celju) against ZT seeking damages in the amount of 2,623,290 SIT (approximately 10,950 euros) for the injuries sustained in the car accident.
Between 11 June 1997 and 26 June 2002 the applicant filed seven preliminary written submissions and/or adduced evidence.
On 1 September and 12 October 1997 the applicant requested that a date be set for a hearing.
Of the four hearings held between 22 January 1999 and 8 July 2002 none was adjourned at the request of the applicant.
On 1 February 1999 the Court appointed a medical expert. The court received the expert’s opinion on 30 March 1999. The court also sought an additional opinion from the appointed expert on 22 June 2000.
Between 13 April 1999 and 19 November 1999 the court urged the applicant three times to pay the advance money for the expert’s fees. On 27 December 1999 the applicant submitted evidence that she had paid the advance.
On 14 December 2000 the court appointed an expert, a clinical psychologist.
At the last hearing the court decided to issue a written judgment. The judgment, upholding in part the applicant’s claim, was served on the applicant on 22 October 2002. 8.  On 5 November 2002 the applicant appealed to the Celje Higher Court (Višje sodišče v Celju) and requested that the first-instance court issue a supplementary judgment addressing the issues the court failed to address in the first judgment. ZT cross-appealed.
On 6 March 2003 the first-instance court issued a supplementary judgment. The judgment was served on the applicant on 12 March 2003.
On 25 March 2003 the applicant appealed against the supplementary judgment.
On 1 July 2004 the Celje Higher Court allowed the applicant’s and ZT’s appeals.
The judgment was served on the applicant on 15 September 2004. 9.  On 8 October 2004 the applicant lodged an appeal on points of law with the Supreme Court (Vrhovno sodišče).
The proceedings are still pending.


10.  The first applicant, Mr Antoni Pla Puncernau, who was born in 1966, is the adopted son of the second applicant, Mrs Roser Puncernau Pedro. The second applicant was the first applicant’s supervisor, as Mr Pla Puncernau is mentally handicapped. They both lived in Andorra. She died when the proceedings were still pending before the Court. 11.  In 1949 Mrs Carolina Pujol Oller, the widow of Francesc Pla Guash, died leaving three children: Francesc-Xavier, Carolina and Sara. She had made a will before a notary in 1939. Under the seventh clause of her will, she settled her estate on her son, Francesc-Xavier, as tenant for life. Should he be unable to inherit, the estate was to pass to his sister, Carolina, and if she was also unable to inherit, it was to pass to Sara’s son, Josep Antoni Serra Pla. 12.  The testatrix indicated that Francesc-Xavier, the beneficiary and life tenant under her will, was to transfer the estate to a son or grandson of a lawful and canonical marriage. To that effect she had inserted the following clause in her will: “The future heir to the estate must leave it to a son or grandson of a lawful and canonical marriage ...” (“El qui arribi a ésser hereu haurà forçosament de transmetre l’herència a un fill o net de legítim i canònic matrimoni ...)”.
Should those conditions not be met, the testatrix had stipulated that the children and grandchildren of the remaindermen under the settlement would be entitled to her estate. 13.  The beneficiary under the will, Francesc-Xavier, contracted canonical marriage to the second applicant, Roser Puncernau Pedro. By deed drawn up on 11 November 1969 before a notary in La Coruña (Spain), they adopted a child, Antoni, in accordance with the procedure for full adoption. They subsequently adopted a second child. 14.  In 1995 Francesc-Xavier Pla Pujol made a will in which he left 300,506 euros (EUR) to his son, Antoni (the first applicant), and EUR 180,303 to his daughter. He named his wife, Roser (the second applicant), sole heir to the remainder of his estate. In a codicil of 3 July 1995, Francesc-Xavier Pla Pujol left the assets he had inherited under his mother’s will to his wife for life and to his adopted son, Antoni, as remainderman. The assets in question consisted of real estate. On 12 November 1996 Francesc-Xavier Pla Pujol died. The codicil was opened on 27 November 1996. 15.  Accordingly, the only potential heirs to the estate under the will are the applicants, Antoni Pla Puncernau and his mother, and two sisters, Carolina and Immaculada Serra Areny, who are the great-grandchildren of the testatrix. 16.  On 17 July 1997 Carolina and Immaculada Serra Areny brought proceedings in the Tribunal des Batlles of Andorra to have the codicil of 3 July 1995 declared null and void and seeking an order requiring the applicants, as defendants in the proceedings, to return to the plaintiffs all the assets of the estate of Carolina Pujol Oller, their great-grandmother, and to pay them damages for unlawful possession of the assets. 17.  In a judgment delivered on 14 October 1999, after hearing submissions from both sides, the Civil Division of the Tribunal des Batlles of Andorra dismissed the action for the following reasons:
“ ...
III.  Both parties agree that it is the contents of the will that determine the testatrix’s intention at the time of making it, so that the will has to be interpreted in accordance with that intention, which is to be inferred from the words used in the will (Digest 50, 16, 219). Since 1941 it has been apparent from the case-law of the Andorran courts (judgment of the Judge of Appeals dated 3 February 1941) that ‘on both a partially intestate and a testate succession it is principally the testator’s intention that must be taken into account, as can be inferred from many provisions of Roman and canon law ...’
IV.  In her will dated 12 October 1939, the testatrix stipulated that ... ‘The future heir to the estate must leave it to a son or grandson of a lawful and canonical marriage ...’ [‘El qui arribi a ésser hereu haurà forçosament de transmetre l’herència a un fill o net de legítim i canònic matrimoni ...’].
In doing so, the will in question set up a family settlement si sine liberis decesserit. An analysis of this type of settlement shows that the purpose is to secure and preserve the estate by keeping it in the settlor’s family. 18.  The Serra Areny sisters appealed to the High Court of Justice of Andorra. In a judgment delivered on 18 May 2000, after hearing submissions from both sides, the High Court set the lower court’s judgment aside. It allowed the appeal, set aside the codicil of 3 July 1995, declared that the appellants were the legitimate heirs to their great-grandmother’s estate and ordered the applicants to return the property in question. The grounds for the court’s judgment were as follows:
“II.  ... Accordingly, the fundamental question to be resolved in the instant case is whether a child who has been adopted in accordance with the procedure for full adoption can be regarded as a child of a lawful and canonical marriage, as required by the testatrix ...
III. This question has to be resolved in accordance with the legal rules on the relationship of adopted children to their adoptive parents that were in force in 1939 and 1949, that is, between the time when Mrs Carolina Pujol i Oller made her will and the date of her death. A will becomes a legal deed from the date on which it is made in accordance with the statutory formalities. Accordingly, in interpreting the testamentary dispositions, regard must be had in the instant case to the legal position of adopted children in the social and family conditions existing in 1939 when the will was made and possibly in 1949 when the testatrix died ...
Legal commentators with first-hand experience of Andorran life stress that adoption is practically unheard of in Andorra (Brutails: ‘Andorran customs’, p. 122). That assertion is borne out by all the Andorran case-law reports, in which there is no reference to adoption. This silence on the subject is perfectly understandable, moreover, given that the provisions of Roman law on adoption could not easily be transposed to Andorran families living in the first half of the twentieth century for the following reasons: since the nineteenth century it could be regarded as an institution that had become obsolete and, to a certain extent, unnecessary given that the main purpose – to appoint a successor or heir – had been achieved in the Principality of Andorra through the institution of heretament (agreement, specific to Catalan law, on the succession of a living person), introduced by customary law. In that social and family context, it is difficult to sustain the proposition that, in setting up a family settlement in case her heir should die without leaving offspring of a lawful and canonical marriage, the testatrix was also referring to adopted children, given that, at the time, adoption was not an established institution in the Principality of Andorra.
The fact that in the instant case the adoptive parents were married to each other does not make their adopted child a legitimate child or a child born of the marriage. The distinction according to whether a child was born in or out of wedlock is relevant only to illegitimate children ... with regard to adopted children, the distinction according to whether a child was born in or out of wedlock does not apply. Accordingly, a child adopted by a couple is an adopted child and not a legitimate child or a child of the marriage.
Furthermore, the notarially recorded deed of adoption was drawn up in Spain in accordance with the Spanish procedure for full adoption ... The Law of 24 April 1958, amending the Civil Code, is applicable to the conditions and general effects of full adoption. Under that Law, the act of adopting a child gave him or her the status of the adoptive father/mother’s child, but did not give the child family status with regard to the adoptive parents’ family. Under Article 174-VII of the Spanish Civil Code, adoption created a filial tie between the adoptive parent, the adopted child and his or her legitimate descendants, but not with the adoptive parent’s family. Moreover, the inheritance rights were also limited in the present case: the deed of adoption referred to the relevant 1960 Catalan legislation, that is, a compilation of 1960 Catalan civil law. Article 248 provided that on an intestate succession adopted children were entitled to inherit only from their adoptive father or mother and not from the rest of their adoptive parents’ family. That rule reflected the idea that adoption created only a filial status and not a family status.
IV.  Accordingly, from a legal standpoint, the adopted children of persons on whom an estate was settled by their father or mother were unconnected with the family circle with regard to the beneficiary’s ascendants. That approach can largely be explained by the minimal impact of adoption on the social and family consciousness in Andorra, both at the time when the will was made and when the testatrix died. The testatrix’s presumed intention has to be established in the light of the circumstances existing at the time of her death. The adopted children of her legitimate son or of the marriage were unconnected with the family circle both from a legal and a sociological point of view.
The purpose of a family settlement si sine liberis decesserit under Catalan law is to keep the family estate in the legitimate or married family and Catalan legal tradition has always favoured the exclusion of adopted children from such family settlements ... Thus, in order for adopted children to inherit under this type of settlement, there must be no doubt as to the testatrix’s intention to depart from the usual nature of this institution. In the instant case, the expression ‘offspring of a lawful and canonical marriage’, which appears in the 1939 will, does not suffice to infer that the testatrix intended to depart from the usual meaning given to family settlements si sine liberis decesserit under the Catalan and Andorran law of succession. 19.  The applicants lodged an application with the High Court of Justice to have the proceedings set aside. They submitted that the latter had breached the principle of equality before the law enshrined in Article 6 of the Andorran Constitution and that they had breached Article 10 (right to judicial protection and to a fair trial) of the Andorran Constitution. In a decision of 28 June 2000, the High Court of Justice dismissed their application as ill-founded. 20.  The applicants lodged an empara appeal with the Constitutional Court against the decisions of the High Court of Justice. They alleged a violation of Article 13 § 3 (principle of children’s equality before the law regardless of filiation) and Article 10 (right to judicial protection and a fair trial) of the Andorran Constitution. In a decision of 13 October 2000, the Constitutional Court declared their appeal inadmissible for the following reasons:
“... It seems clear that the judgment of the High Court of Justice is limited to clarifying and determining, that is, interpreting, a specific point concerning the testatrix’s intention, as expressed in her will in the form of a family settlement in favour of a child or grandson of a lawful and canonical marriage.
The High Court of Justice does not at any point suggest that there is general discrimination against, or inequality between, children according to whether they are biological or adopted. Such an assertion would evidently amount to a flagrant breach of Article 13 § 3 of the Constitution and would also be contrary to the prevailing legal opinion according to which legal systems must always be interpreted, which is that all children are equal, irrespective of their origin. However, as submitted in substance by State Counsel, ‘discrimination against adopted children as compared to biological children does not in the instant case derive from an act of the public authorities, that is, from the judgment of the Civil Division of the High Court of Justice, but from the intention of the testatrix or settlor regarding who should inherit under her will’ in accordance with the principle of freedom to make testamentary dispositions, which is a concrete manifestation of the general principle of civil liberty.
In its judgment, the High Court of Justice confined itself to interpreting a testamentary disposition. It did so from the legal standpoint it considered adequate and in accordance with its unfettered discretion, seeing that the interpretation of legal instruments is a question of fact which, as such, falls under the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts.
...” 21.  The applicants lodged an appeal (recurso de súplica) with the Constitutional Court, which dismissed it on 17 November 2000.