CASE OF VENDITTELLI v. ITALY
No violation of Art. 6-1;No violation of Art. 6-1+P1-1;Violation of P1-1;Just satisfaction rejected (out of time)
C. Russo
8. Mr Manlio Vendittelli, an architect, lives in Rome. 9. On 19 May 1986 the Rome municipal police (vigili urbani) sealed his flat, on the ground that he had infringed the town-planning regulations. 10. On 20 May 1986 the Rome magistrate (pretore) confirmed the sequestration (sequestro) and criminal proceedings were instituted against the applicant. Mr Vendittelli lodged three applications for release of his property from sequestration on 30 May 1986 and 5 and 26 June 1987 but they were dismissed on 12 June 1986 and 9 July 1987 for reasons of prevention and of preservation of evidence (per fini preventivi e cautelari). 11. On 25 July 1987 the applicant sought an early hearing, pointing to the damage caused him by his being unable to enjoy the benefit of his property. The trial was initially set down for 17 November 1987 but was postponed to 15 December 1987. In a judgment delivered the same day, which was filed in the registry on 30 December 1987 and notified on 1 December 1988, the magistrate imposed on Mr Vendittelli, who was present when the judgment was delivered, a suspended sentence of twenty days’ imprisonment and a fine of ten million lire, without any entry in the criminal records, for having carried out works in his flat without a permit from the mayor (concessione edilizia). 12. The applicant appealed against this decision within three days of its delivery and filed his pleadings on 10 December 1988; the twenty-day period allowed for filing grounds of appeal began to run on the day of service of the judgment. The hearing in the Rome Court of Appeal began on 2 May 1989. It was adjourned on 8 January and 27 March 1990 - on the first occasion at the request of Mr Vendittelli, whose doctor had ordered him to rest for five days, and on the second occasion because his counsel was unable to attend. In the meantime, on 13 January 1990, the lawyer had already applied for the trial to be resumed. 13. In a judgment of 4 July 1990, which was filed in the registry on the same day and became final and therefore enforceable on 30 October 1990, the Court of Appeal held that the offence had been amnestied and the prosecution barred as a result of a presidential decree that had been issued on 12 April 1990. It did not, however, order that the property should be released from sequestration, nor was the judgment notified to the applicant, who had to obtain a copy from the registry on 5 December 1990. In the meantime, by a letter of 19 July 1990, Mr Vendittelli had applied for a hearing to be fixed. 14. On 19 November 1990 the file was sent to the magistrate for placing in the archives. In a letter of 10 December 1990 to the President of the Rome Court of Appeal, which was sent on 17 December to the magistrate’s court (pretura), the applicant again sought to have his property released from sequestration. He complained of the bad state of his flat. 15. On 17 December the registrar of the magistrate’s court sent the file to the magistrate for execution of the judgment, that is to say release from sequestration. On 31 January 1991 the magistrate held that he had no jurisdiction and ordered that the file should be returned to the Court of Appeal. 16. It arrived the next day. The central registry of the Court of Appeal recorded the point raised regarding execution (incidente di esecuzione) and on 11 February 1991 sent the file to the registry of the Second Criminal Division. On 10 April and 9 May 1991 Mr Vendittelli again sought to have his property released from sequestration. 17. In an order of 17 May 1991, which was filed on 21 May, sent to Rome Town Hall on 23 May "for execution of what was ordered in it" and served on the applicant on 3 June, the Rome Court of Appeal allowed Mr Vendittelli’s application and also noted that the mayor had issued a permit in the meantime.