Published on 4 May 2026
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 37119/25
Emine Afizova RAMADANOVA and Others
against Italy
lodged on 21 November 2025
communicated on 17 April 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the alleged failure of the authorities to comply with their positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention to enable the effective exercise of family life of the applicants.
By judgment of 7 November 2024, the first instance Court of Catania granted sole custody of the second and third applicants to their father and ordered that they be placed with him, requesting that their transfer take place “with the utmost caution”. It further ordered that the first applicant, their mother, meet with the children “in accordance with the provisions suggested by the guardian for the minors and the social services”. The children were transferred to their father’s residence in November 2024, and since then the first applicant has not had any contact with them, allegedly due to inactivity by the social services and the children’s guardian. At the time the application was lodged before the Court, the proceedings before the first instance Court of Catania were still pending.
Under Article 8 of the Convention, the applicants complain about an excessive delegation of powers to the social services, to which the domestic court uncritically entrusted all assessment concerning the modalities of the first applicant’s meetings with her children. They further complain about the domestic court’s inertia in responding to the first applicant’s requests, including her request to replace the second and third applicants’ guardian due to the guardian’s conduct toward them.
Under Article 13 of the Convention, the applicants complain about the absence of remedies ensuring the effective protection of the first applicant’s contact rights.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has there been a violation of the applicants’ right to respect for their family life under Article 8 of the Convention on account of the withdrawal of the first applicant’s contact rights (Terna v. Italy, no. 21052/18, §§ 60-62, 14 January 2021, and A.I. v. Italy, no. 70896/17, §§ 86-89 and 99, 1 April 2021)?
In assessing the question, the parties are invited to specify what measures have been taken by both the domestic courts and the social services to ensure the implementation of the first applicant’s contact rights.
2. Has there been a violation of the applicants’ right to respect for their family life under the procedural limb of Article 8 (A.T. v. Italy, no. 40910/19, §§ 66-68, 24 June 2021), having regard to the alleged lack of diligence of the domestic authorities in handling the first applicant’s requests during the proceedings?
3. Did the applicants have at their disposal, as required by Article 13 of the Convention, effective domestic remedies through which they could have raised the complaints of a violation of Article 8?
APPENDIX
No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of birth
Nationality
1.
Emine Afizova RAMADANOVA
1985
Bulgarian
2.
O.T.
2012
Bulgarian, Italian
3.
S.S.T.
2012
Bulgarian, Italian