Communicated on 24 June 2014

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 23931/10 Florin LEONTE against Romania lodged on 16 April 2010

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Florin Leonte , is a Romanian national, who was born in 1963 and lives in Podul Iloaiei . He is represented before the Court by Mr T.C. Baltag , a lawyer practising in Ia ÅŸ i .

A. The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On 26 June 2007 the Ia ş i County Court convicted the applicant of driving under influence and without licence, of leaving the place of an accident and of manslaughter. He was sentenced to fourteen years ’ imprisonment. In application of Article 71 of the Criminal Code, his right to vote and to be elected was withdrawn during detention.

The decision was upheld, after re-examination of the evidence in the file, by the Ia ÅŸ i Court of Appeal on 6 March 2008 and by the High Court of Cassation and Justice on 22 October 2009, the latter being the final decision in the case.

The applicant is currently serving his prison sentence.

B. Relevant domestic law and practice

The relevant provisions of the Criminal Code providing the automatic withdrawal of the right to vote and to be elected during the execution of a prison sentence, read as follows:

Article 64 – Additional penalties

“Disqualification from exercising one or more of the rights mentioned below may be imposed as an additional penalty:

(a) the right to vote and to be elected to bodies of a public authority or to public elective office; ...”

Article 71 – Secondary penalty

“The secondary penalty shall consist in disqualification from exercising all the rights listed in Article 64.

(2) A life sentence or any other prison sentence shall automatically entail disqualification from exercising the rights referred to in the preceding paragraph from the time at which the conviction becomes final until the end of the term of imprisonment or the granting of a pardon waiving the execution of the sentence ... ”

In its decision of 5 November 2007 (foll owing an appeal in the interest of the law) which became mandatory on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette on 18 July 2008, the High Court of Cassation and Justice advised the domestic courts to interpret Article 71 § 2 of the Criminal Code in the light of the Convention, and thus assess in each case the necessity of the withdrawal of the right to vote.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention about his automatic disqualification from exercising his right to vote.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

1. Has there been a breach of the applicant ’ s right under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention on account of the withdrawal of his right to vote during the time he was serving his prison sentence ( Cucu v. Romania , no. 22362/06, § 111, 13 November 2012)?

The Government are invited to provide information on the possibilities opened to the applicant to reinstate his name on the electoral roll, in particular after the adoption of the decision of 5 November 2007 by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, or after the entry into force of the new Criminal Code.