CASE OF BUZATU AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA

FOURTH SECTION

CASE OF BUZATU AND OTHERS v. ROMANIA

(Applications nos. 9759/19 and 7 others)

JUDGMENT
(Revision)

STRASBOURG

13 January 2026

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Buzatu and Others v. Romania (request for revision of the judgment of 4 March 2025),

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

 Anne Louise Bormann, President,
 Sebastian Răduleţu,
 András Jakab, judges,

and Valentin Nicolescu, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 2 December 2025,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

1.  The case originated in individual applications submitted by eight applicants against Romania, lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 8 February 2019.

2.  In its judgment of 4 March 2025, the Court held that there had been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention, under its procedural limb, on account of the ineffectiveness of the investigation into the ill-treatment of the applicants during the events of December 1989 which led to the fall of the communist regime. The Court also decided to award the applicants just satisfaction in the amounts set out in the table appended to that judgment.

3.  On 25 April 2025 the Government informed the Registry that, during the process of executing the judgment of 4 March 2025, they had become aware of the fact that two of the applicants (Ms Maria Cantemir and Mr Vasile Halas) had died before the Court had delivered its judgment. They therefore requested that the judgment be revised in accordance with Rule 80 of the Rules of Court.

4.  On 24 June 2025 the Court considered the revision request and decided to invite the applicants’ representative, Ms Eleonora Arjoca, to submit comments on it within four weeks, in accordance with Rule 80 § 4. Despite evidence that the representative received that letter, no reply has been received by the Registry to date.

THE LAW

THE REQUEST FOR REVISION

5.  The Government requested the revision of the judgment of 4 March 2025, which they had been unable to execute in full because two of the applicants, Ms Maria Cantemir and Mr Vasile Halas, had died before the judgment had been delivered. They argued that the heirs of those applicants should have informed the Court of the deaths of their close relatives and of their intention to pursue the proceedings. As they had failed to do so, they should not receive the sums awarded to the deceased applicants.

6.  The Court notes that Ms Maria Cantemir died on 10 May 2022, and Mr Vasile Halas on 28 April 2023. It further notes that no observations have been submitted to it by any potential heirs.

7.  The Court considers that the judgment of 4 March 2025 should be revised pursuant to Rule 80 of the Rules of Court, the relevant parts of which provide:

“1.  A party may, in the event of the discovery of a fact which might by its nature have a decisive influence and which, when a judgment was delivered, was unknown to the Court and could not reasonably have been known to that party, request the Court ... to revise that judgment.

...”

8.  The Court accepts the Government’s argument that the applicants’ deaths would have had a decisive influence on the outcome of the judgment within the meaning of Rule 80.

9.  In those circumstances, the Court accepts the Government’s request for revision of the Buzatu and Others v. Romania judgment of 4 March 2025, in so far as it concerns applications nos. 9770/19 and 9904/19.

10.  In previous similar cases where an applicant has died during the proceedings and no relatives have expressed the wish to pursue the application, the Court, finding that respect for human rights did not require it to continue their examination, has decided to strike the cases out of its list (see Eremiasova and Pechova v. The Czech Republic (revision), no. 23944/04, §§ 5, 6 and 11, 20 June 2013, Vlad and Others v. Romania (revision), nos. 40756/06 and 2 others, §§ 8‑12, 15 October 2024, and Racoltea and Others v. Romania (revision) [Committee], nos. 70116/13 and 17 others, §§ 5‑13, 16 January 2020).

11.  Accordingly, application no. 9770/19 (lodged by Ms Maria Cantemir) and application no. 9904/19 (lodged by Mr Vasile Halas) should be struck out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 of the Convention.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

and, accordingly:

Done in English, and notified in writing on 13 January 2026, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

 Valentin Nicolescu Anne Louise Bormann
 Acting Deputy Registrar President