CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 25 novembre 2003

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s61E420C2 { font-family:Arial; font-variant:small-caps } .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 } .sA8C2B9B0 { width:20.37pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     597   25.11.2003   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING ON THE ADMISSIBILITY AND MERITS IN THE CASE OF PINI & BERTANI AND MANERA & ATRIPALDI v. ROMANIA   Tuesday 25 November 2003 at 9.00 a.m.   The applicants   The case concerns two applications (nos. 78028/01 and 78030/01) brought by four Italian nationals: Carlo Pini and Annalisa Bertani, who were born in 1957 and 1952 respectively and live in Reggio nell’Emilia (Italy), and Salvatore Manera and Rosalba Atripaldi, who were born in 1951 and 1953 respectively and live in Mantua (Italy).   Summary of the facts   The applicants had sought to adopt two Romanian children who had been abandoned. Braşov County Court granted their applications on 28 September 2000 and made an order for the children’s birth certificates to be amended. An appeal lodged by the Romanian Adoption Board against those orders was dismissed and they became final.   When the applicants sought to enforce the adoption orders, the Poiana Soarelui Braşov Children’s Village (PSBCV), where the children had been placed in care, refused to hand over the children or their birth certificates. The PSBCV is a private organisation approved by the Braşov Child Welfare Department and a subsidiary of the Casa Copilului Childcare Foundation. Its role is to look after and care for orphaned and abandoned children and to provide them with an education.   The PSBCV lodged various applications to have the adoption orders set aside and the enforcement proceedings stayed. In September and November 2002 the children also applied to have the adoption orders quashed. They refused to leave Romania and said that they wished to remain in the care of the PSBCV.   Articles appeared in the local press in Braşov stating that the PSBCV’s founder, the former tennis player, Ioan Tiriac, had said that none of the children at the village would leave, as they were all now members of his family and it was time to stop “exporting” Romanian children.   Complaints   Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicants complain that the Romanian authorities’ failure to comply with final judicial decisions has deprived them of contact with their adopted children. They maintain that the authorities’ refusal to allow the children to leave the country constitutes a violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 (freedom of movement). They also complain under Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) that the children had been deprived of their freedom by the PSBCV.   Procedure   The applications were lodged respectively on 20 April and 10 March 2001 and, on 16 September 2003, the Chamber decided to join the two cases.   On 7 October 2003 the President of the Chamber granted leave to submit written comments and to take part in the hearing (under Rule 61 § 3 of the Rules of Court) to: Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, rapporteur to the European Parliament; Nicolai Mîndrila, Vice- President of the PSBCV; Ion Tiriac, PSBCV’s founder; and, Vasile Arhire, the two Romanian children’s lawyer.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Jean-Paul Costa (French), President , András Baka (Hungarian), Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Corneliu Bîrsan (Romanian), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Volodymyr Butkevych (Ukrainian), Wilhelmina Thomassen (Netherlands), judges , Gaukur Jörundsson (Icelandic) , Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian) , substitute judges , and also Sally Dollé , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Bogdan Aurescu , Agent , Roxana Rizoiu Co-Agent , Irina Păunescu , Adviser , Răzvan Rotundu, Co-Agent ;   Applicants :   Stefano Papa , Counsel .   The applicants will also attend the hearing.   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility – and, if appropriate, a judgment – will be delivered at a later date.   ***   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91 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. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. More detailed information about the Court and its activities can be found on its Internet site.