CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 26 mai 2009

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s9A223E1B { width:11.03pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s3CED24E9 { width:27.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sB7E357D2 { width:17.71pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt }   412 26.5.2009   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING MUÑOZ DÍAZ v. SPAIN   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today Tuesday 26 May 2009 at 9 a.m. on the admissibility and merits in the case of Muñoz Díaz v. Spain (application no. 49151/07).   The hearing will be broadcast from 2.30 p.m. on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   The applicant   The case concerns an application brought by a Spanish national, Maria Luisa Muñoz Díaz who was born in 1956 and lives in Madrid.   Summary of the facts   She married M. D. in November 1971 according to the Roma community’s special rite. They had six children, who were entered in the family record book issued by the Spanish authorities. In 1986 the couple were granted large-family status.   On 24 December 2000 M. D. died. He had been a builder and had paid social-security contributions for more than nineteen years. The applicant applied for a survivor’s pension but the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) refused to grant her one as she had not been M.   D.’s wife under civil law; that decision was upheld in May 2001.   The applicant subsequently applied to the labour court. In a decision of 30 May 2002 the judge of the labour court held that she was entitled to a survivor’s pension, finding that the decision by the INSS, which had been based on the non-recognition in civil law of the marriage between Ms Muñoz Díaz and the deceased, had constituted discriminatory treatment on the ground of ethnic origin.   On an appeal by the opposing party, the Madrid Higher Court of Justice quashed that decision and held in a judgment of 7 November 2002 that the couple had been united through a custom that had no effect on civil status, and not in accordance with the applicable law.   The applicant lodged an amparo appeal with the Constitutional Court, which dismissed it in a judgment of 16 April 2007, finding that Ms Muñoz Díaz and M. D. had chosen not to formalise their union by legal or recognised means, despite having been free to do so through the general, ethnically neutral, option of a civil marriage. The court also observed that it was necessary to limit survivors’ pensions to those who were married, in the context of limited social-security resources and the many needs to be met.   However, in a dissenting opinion one of the judges highlighted the constitutional dimension of the issue and argued that guaranteeing equality for ethnic minorities required positive discrimination measures. In his view, it had been disproportionate to refuse Ms   Muñoz Díaz a survivor’s pension, seeing that her family possessed a family record book and had been granted large-family status and health-care assistance and the Spanish State had received contributions from her husband for more than nineteen years.   Complaints   The applicant complains that the refusal to grant her a survivor’s pension on the ground that her marriage has no effect under civil law infringes the principle of non-discrimination set forth in Article 14, in conjunction with the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions, guaranteed by Article 1 of Protocol No.   1 to the European Convention on Human Rights.   Relying on Article 14 in conjunction with Article 12, Ms Muñoz Díaz further complains that Spain’s lack of recognition in civil law of Roma marriage – the only form of marriage recognised in the Roma community – despite the fact that the Roma minority has been settled in Spain for at least five hundred years amounts to a breach of her right to marry.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 29 October 2007.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Josep Casadevall (Andorra), President , Elisabet Fura-Sandström (Sweden), Corneliu Bîrsan (Romania), Boštjan M. Zupančič (Slovenia), Alvina Gyulumyan (Armenia), Egbert Myjer (the Netherlands), Luis López Guerra (Spain), judges , Ineta Ziemele (Latvia), Ann Power (Ireland), substitute judges , and also Santiago Quesada , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Ignacio Blasco Lozano , Agent ;   Applicant :   Magdalena Queipo de Llano López-Cózar , Sebastián Sánchez Lorente , Counsel;   Third Party:   Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia , Président de l’Unión Romaní .   María Luisa Muñoz Díaz will also attend the hearing.     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility, followed if appropriate by a judgment, will be delivered at a later date [1] .   Press contacts Stefano Piedimonte (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 28 30) Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70) Céline Menu-Lange (telephone : 00 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. [1] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.