Published on 20 June 2022

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 4065/21 Piotr BELUCH against Poland lodged on 23 December 2020 communicated on 1 June 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The case concerns enforcement of the applicant’s contact rights in respect of his daughter, X, born in 2010. The applicant alleges that despite several court orders regulating contact with X, since 2014 the mother has prevented him from seeing her. In 2016 he made applications under Article 598 15 and further of the Code of Civil Procedure to impose fines on his ex-wife and to return to him the costs that he had borne to organise visits with X. Despite the fact that the applicant’s requests were partly granted, the contact orders were not enforced. The proceedings for imposing a fine on the applicant’s ex-wife were discontinued after she had lodged a fresh request for contact arrangement with X (Kraków District Court of 14 January 2020 (III Nsm 604/15/S)). According to the applicant, even though the contact arrangements were amended, the proceedings to impose a fine on his ex-wife, which had been instituted when previous contact arrangements were in force, should have been continued.

The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention about the ineffective enforcement of his contact rights and the fact that on numerous occasions he did not have access to his daughter, despite the court’s contact order.

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, did the Polish authorities fail to discharge their positive obligations to secure to the applicant the effective exercise of his right to enjoy his family life, as determined by the contact order?