NICOLESCU v. ROMANIA
Inadmissible
Alvina Gyulumyan;Ján Šikuta;Josep Casadevall;Kristina Pardalos;Luis López Guerra;Nona Tsotsoria
1. The applicants, Mr Daniel Nicolescu and Ms Estera Nicolescu, are Romanian nationals, who were born in 1939 and 1946 respectively and live in Bacău. They were represented before the Court by Mr A. Surdescu, a lawyer practising in Bucharest. 2. The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their coAgent, Ms I. Cambrea and then by their Agent, Ms C. Brumar, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 3. In a final decision of 4 May 2004 the Bacău County Court dismissed the criminal complaint lodged by the applicants against two journalists who had published several articles about them. At that time, they were respectively the director and a teacher in a local high school. 4. The decision became available on 18 May 2004. 5. On 10 August 2004 the applicants sent a letter to the Court stating that “the Romanian State breached some of [their] rights guaranteed by the Convention” and asking for an application form in order to “legally lodge their application with the Court” (ca modalitate legală de sesizare a Curţii). 6. On 29 October 2004 the Court forwarded the application form and instructed the applicants on how to read the admissibility requirements set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention and Rules 45 and 47 of the Rules of Court. 7. On 10 February 2005 the applicants sent their application form and supportive documents, raising comprehensive complaints under Articles 6 § 1 and 8 of the Convention.