SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 43242/13
Oleg CLIPA
against the Republic of Moldova
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 14 December 2021 as a Committee composed of:
Branko Lubarda, President,
Pauliine Koskelo,
Marko Bošnjak, judges,
and Hasan Bakırcı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to:
the application (no. 43242/13) against the Republic of Moldova lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 27 May 2013 by a Moldovan national, Mr Oleg Clipa, who was born in 1980 and lives in Chişinău (“the applicant”) who was represented by Mr V. Pruteanu, a lawyer practising in Chișinău;
the decision to give notice of the application to the Moldovan Government (“the Government”), represented by their Agent, Mr L. Apostol;
the parties’ observations;
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE CASE
1. The case concerns the refusal to issue the applicant a new passport.
2. In 2009 the applicant was charged with smuggling. Although preventive measures restricting his freedom of movement were annulled in 2010, his request for a new passport was rejected in 2011 on the ground that criminal proceedings were still pending in his respect. On 3 April 2013 the Supreme Court of Justice finally rejected the applicant’s claims as ill‑founded, noting that the provisions of domestic law explicitly prohibited the issuance of a new passport to persons under criminal investigation.
3. The applicant complained about a violation of his freedom of movement under Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention.
THE COURT’S ASSESSMENT
4. In their observations of 21 January 2014 the Government submitted, inter alia, that the applicant had intentionally omitted to inform the Court that he held a second passport, issued in 2008 and valid until 2018, which he had been able to successfully use in order to travel from 2010 to 2013. The Government argued that such behaviour on the part of the applicant constituted abuse of the right of individual application.
5. The Court recalls that an application may be rejected as abusive under Article 35 § 3 of the Convention, among other reasons, if it was knowingly based on untrue facts (see Varbanov v. Bulgaria, no. 31365/96, § 36, ECHR 2000-X; Popov v. Moldova (no. 1), no. 74153/01, § 48, 18 January 2005; Řehák v. Czech Republic (dec.), no. 67208/01, 18 May 2004; Kérétchachvili v. Georgia (dec.), no. 5667/02, 2 May 2006). Incomplete and therefore misleading information may also amount to abuse of the right of application, especially if the information concerns the very core of the case and no sufficient explanation is given for the failure to disclose that information (Poznanski and Others v. Germany (dec.), no. 25101/05, 3 July 2007).
6. When presenting the factual background of the case in the application form, the applicant did not provide any information about his second passport which was valid and with which he was able to travel despite the refusal of domestic authorities to renew his other passport. After this information was revealed by the Government, the applicant did not dispute it and did provide any plausible explanation for his omission.
7. The Court considers that the information concerning the existence of another valid travel document and the actual unhindered travels of the applicant was of great importance in the determination of the question whether the application was meritorious. Having regard to the importance of the information at issue for the proper determination of the present case, the Court finds that the applicant’s conduct was contrary to the purpose of the right of individual petition, as provided for in Article 34 of the Convention.
8. In view of the above, the application must be rejected as abusive, pursuant to Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Declares the application inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 20 January 2022.
Hasan Bakırcı Branko Lubarda
Deputy Registrar President