Legal summary

January 2023

Papanikolaou v. Greece (dec.) - 45794/19

Decision 13.12.2022 [Section III]

Article 35

Article 35-1

Exhaustion of domestic remedies

Effective domestic remedy

Failure to challenge before the Supreme Administrative Court birth registration act indicating mother’s religion: inadmissible

Facts – The applicant, a mother of a child born in 2019, complained under Article 9 of the Convention about the requirement under domestic law to declare her religion when registering the birth of the child. A birth registration act had been drawn up by the regional registry office which indicated the applicant’s religion.

Law – Article 35 § 1:

The Court considered that the applicant could have lodged an application for annulment of the birth registration act with the Supreme Administrative Court, relying on Article 13 of the Constitution or directly on the Convention, which, pursuant to Article 28 of the Constitution, prevailed over any contrary provision of law. Citing the case of Stavropoulos and Others v. Greece , which outlined the relevant domestic law, the Court noted the applicants in that case had utilised the Supreme Administrative Court as a domestic remedy for the annulment of the birth registration act, albeit unsuccessfully. Therefore, the Supreme Administrative Court was a competent forum to annul the impugned administrative act, should it have considered it to have been in breach of the Convention. The applicant had failed to show the remedy could not afford adequate redress for any violation of her Convention rights and there had been no exceptional circumstances capable of exempting the applicant from the obligation to exhaust domestic remedies.

Conclusion: inadmissible (non-exhaustion of domestic remedies).

Article 13: The Supreme Administrative Court was an effective remedy at the applicant’s disposal that she had failed to utilise.

Conclusion: inadmissible (manifestly ill‑founded).

(See also Stavropoulos and Others v. Greece , 52484/18, 25 June 2020, Legal Summary )

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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