Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)155[1]
Execution of the Committee of Minister's decisions in the case of
Intrieri against Italy
(Application No. 16609/90, Interim Resolution DH(97)50 of 28 January 1997)
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of former Article 32 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter “the Convention”),
Having regard to Interim Resolution DH(97)50, adopted on 28 January 1997 in the case of Intrieri against Italy, in which the Committee of Ministers decided that there had been a violation of Article 8 of the Convention, on account of the excessive length of proceedings brought by the applicant against a judicial decision declaring her son eligible to be adopted and thereby suspending her parental rights and her contacts with the child, and to make public the report of the European Commission of Human Rights;
Whereas the Committee of Ministers examined the proposals made by the Commission when transmitting its report as regards just satisfaction to be awarded to the applicant, proposals supplemented by a letter of the President of the Commission dated 23 September 1997;
Whereas at the 610th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies, the Committee of Ministers, agreeing with the Commission's proposals, held by a decision adopted on 15 December 1997, in accordance with former Article 32, paragraph 2, of the Convention, that the government of the respondent state was to pay the applicant as just satisfaction, within three months, 60 000 000 Italian lire in respect of non-pecuniary damage and 5 000 000 Italian lire in respect of costs and expenses, namely a total sum of 65 000 000 Italian lire, and that interest should be payable on any unpaid sum, calculated on the basis of each full elapsed month of delay at the statutory rate applicable on the date of this decision, it being understood that the interest would accrue from the expiry of the time-limit until full payment was placed at the disposal of the applicant;
Whereas the Committee of Ministers invited the government of the respondent state to inform it of the measures taken following its decisions of 28 January 1997 and 15 December 1997, having regard to Italy's obligation under former Article 32, paragraph 4, of the Convention to abide by them;
Whereas during the examination of the case by the Committee of Ministers, the government of the respondent state accordingly gave the Committee information about the measures taken in consequence of the Committee's decisions taken to avoid new violations of the same kind as those found in this case;
Whereas the Committee of Ministers satisfied itself that on 24 February 1998, within the time-limit set, the government of the respondent state had paid the applicant the total sum of 65 000 000 Italian lire as just satisfaction;
DECLARES, having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix) and considering the decision taken at the 783rd meeting of the Ministers' Deputies (6 March 2002), that it has exercised its functions under former Article 32 of the Convention in this case and
DECIDES to close the examination of this case.
Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)155
Information about the measures to comply with
Interim Resolution DH(1997)50 of the Committee of Ministers
and its decision of 15/12/1997
in the case of Intrieri against Italy
Introductory case summary
This case concerns a violation of the applicant's right to respect for her family life, on account of the excessive length of the proceedings, notably before the Court of Cassation, brought by the applicant against a judicial decision declaring her son eligible to be adopted and thereby suspending her parental rights and her contacts with the child. The proceedings at issue started in 1986, when the applicant's son was twelve years old, and were dismissed in 1992, without reaching a final decision on the merits, as the child had in the meantime become of age (violation of Article 8).
I.Payment of just satisfaction and individual measures
a) Details of just satisfaction
Pecuniary damage
Non-pecuniary damage
Costs and expenses
Total
-
60 000 000 Italian lire (30 987 euros)
5 000 000 Italian lire
(2 582 euros)
65 000 000 Italian lire (33 569 euros)
Paid on 24 February 1998, within the deadlines
b) Individual measures
The proceedings at issue in this case had already ended when the violation of the Convention was found. They did not lead to a final decision on the merits, as the applicant's son had in the meantime become of age. Subsequently, he returned to live with the applicant.
II.General measures
Awareness-raising measures have been adopted to prevent, as much as possible, new violations similar to that found in the present case.
Firstly, the Italian Supreme Judicial Council (C.S.M.) addressed, in July 2000, a Resolution to judges and managers of judicial bodies underlining the need to take any appropriate measure in order to prevent any unjustified delay in this sort of proceedings requiring special diligence.
The C.S.M. urged the competent authorities notably to:
-ensure that the first hearing and/or the debate hearing be scheduled within short delays, in accordance with the case law of the European Court on length of proceedings;
-prevent stalling tactics and « empty » hearings, and in any event ensure that the parties' requests for adjournment and the reasons for adjournments be reflected in the hearing's minutes;
-ensure that the technical expert and the other judge's assistants respect the time-frame and indicate any delay which might result from the parties' behaviour;
-file the decisions within the legal deadlines and see to that the Registry make in due time the required formalities (communications, notifications, etc.);
-gather all useful information on the cases at the origin of applications filed with the European Court of Human rights and intervene in the proceedings pending at national level by adopting any appropriate measure aimed at eliminating the causes of the delays, anticipating , if need be, the hearing and following in any event the above-mentioned instructions.
The C.S.M also decided to include the subject of human rights and the European Court's case-law in the curricula of all initial training courses for junior judges, in the annual programme of in-service training and in that of decentralised training courses.
Furthermore, in May 2001, it promoted the organisation of seminars, both at national and local level, aimed at training persons working in the field of family law, and in particular the judges of the Youth courts, on the requirements of the Convention, as interpreted in the Strasbourg's case-law in this field.
As regards the more general problem of the functioning of judicial system in Italy, the government reaffirms its commitment to prepare at the latest by 1st November 2008 a new effective strategy and to keep the Committee of Ministers regularly informed of the reflections concerning the strategy to be implemented and the progress made in this regard (see Resolutions DH(97)336, DH(99)437, ResDH(2000)135, ResDH(2005)114 and CM/ResDH(2007)2).
III.Conclusions of the respondent state
The Government of Italy considers that, in the light of the above-mentioned information, it has fulfilled its obligations under former Article 32 of the Convention in this case.
[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 19 December 2007 at the 1013th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies
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