Information Note on the Court’s case-law 230
June 2019
X and Others v. Bulgaria (referral) - 22457/16
Judgment 17.1.2019 [Section V]
Article 8
Positive obligations
Article 8-1
Respect for private life
Allegations of sexual abuse in an orphanage found not to be corroborated by the investigation file or the preventive measures implemented there: case referred to the Grand Chamber
Article 3
Effective investigation
Positive obligations
Allegations of sexual abuse in an orphanage found not to be corroborated by the investigation file or the preventive measures implemented there: case referred to the Grand Chamber
The applicants, who were born in Bulgaria, are three under-age siblings. In June 2012, aged 12, 10 and 9 respectively, they were adopted by an Italian couple. In December 2012 the adoptive parents lodged a complaint with the Italian police concerning the alleged sexual abuse of the children during their placement in an orphanage in Bulgaria. They contacted an investigative journalist, who subsequently wrote an article in an Italian weekly publication alleging that there had been systematic and large-scale sexual abuse of children in the orphanage. The Italian authorities transmitted the complaint to the Bulgarian authorities. Meanwhile, coverage of the Italian article in the Bulgarian media had prompted the National Child Welfare Agency to initiate an inquiry. The public prosecutor’s office also launched an investigation and gave decisions not to prosecute on the grounds that the evidence gathered did not corroborate the allegations.
In a judgment of 17 January 2019 (see Information Note 225), a Chamber of the Court held unanimously that there had been no violation of Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention, finding that the authorities had not failed in their obligation to conduct an effective investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse, or their obligation to take preventive action to protect the applicants against the risk of such abuse.
On 24 June 2019 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the applicants’ request.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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