Published on 19 September 2022

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 41830/16 Thomas Gregor KARZELEK against Poland lodged on 11 July 2016 communicated on 29 August 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the non-enforcement of foreign court decisions ordering that the applicant’s minor daughter, L.K. (born in 2009), be returned to the applicant’s care after having been abducted from Germany to Poland by her Polish mother, J.S. The applicant is a double national of Germany and Poland.

On 2 October 2014 J.S. abducted L.K. from Germany to Poland. On 8 October 2014 the Ludwigsburg District Court ( Amtsgericht ) obliged J.S. to surrender the child to the applicant. On 7 November 2014 the Jelenia Góra Regional Court ( Sąd Okręgowy ) declared that order enforceable in Poland.

On 1 December 2014 and 30 January 2015 the Lubań District Court ( Sąd Rejonowy ) and the Legnica Regional Court, respectively, ordered L.K.’s forcible return to the applicant’s care. The attempts to retrieve the child failed because L.K. could not be found by the authorities.

On 25 September 2015 the Ludwigsburg District Court determined that L.K. was likely in hiding in Poland with her maternal grandmother, H.S. and ordered H.S. to surrender the child to the applicant. On 12 October 2015 the Jelenia Góra Regional Court declared that order enforceable in Poland.

On 18 December 2017 the Ludwigsburg District Court quashed its order of 8 October 2014 on the grounds that, among others, L.K. had been deeply agitated during three attempts to remove her from J.S.’s care between April and August 2017. On 7 May 2018 the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court ( Oberlandesgericht ) dismissed the applicant’s appeal against that judgment.

On 23 May 2018 the applicant took L.K. to Germany on his own.

Relying on Article 8 of the Convention, the applicant complains that the Polish authorities failed to ensure the timely return of his daughter to Germany.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to respect for his family life, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention? In particular, is the non-enforcement of the decisions of the Ludwigsburg District Court of 8 October 2014, declared enforceable in Poland by a decision of the Jelenia Góra Regional Court of 7 November 2014, and of 25 September 2015, declared enforceable in Poland by a decision of the Jelenia Góra Regional Court of 12 October 2015, in breach of the substantive and procedural requirements of Article 8 of the Convention?