Published on 6 February 2023

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 13954/20 Oleg BREGA against Romania lodged on 16 March 2020 communicated on 16 January 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant’s fining for staging a solo protest in front of the local council of a small town, Bragadiru.

The applicant intended to attend a meeting of the Bragadiru Local Council which was supposed to be open to the public and which was to examine a matter of interest to him. After a guardian refused to admit him to the meeting, the applicant called the police and complained about the breach of his right to be present at the meeting. The police officers who arrived minutes later escorted him out of the building and asked for his identity papers and convinced him to follow them to the police station. The applicant objected and argued that instead of restoring his rights, the police was committing another abuse. At one point he started shouting that his fundamental right to attend the Local Council’s public meeting was being breached, in response to which the officers threatened him with handcuffing. After an exchange with the officers which lasted several minutes, the applicant allowed himself to be escorted to the police station but on his way, he shouted the following: “I want to attend the public meeting of the Bragadiru Local Council but the employees of the local council and the police are breaching my fundamental rights. The Bragadiru mafia wants to hide something. Probably they want to steal something in the absence of witnesses. Shame on you! You are in the west of the capital, but you behave like they do in the Russian Federation”.

The police officers imposed a fine of 500 lei (approximately 110 euros) on the applicant on account of his “breaching the peace by shouting” in front of the Bragadiru Local Council (tulburarea liniștii publice prin strigăte) . The applicant challenged the fine in courts and invoked Article 10 of the Convention, but without success.

The applicant complains that his fining amounted to a breach of his right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly as guaranteed by Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to freedom of expression and/or freedom of assembly, contrary to Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention ( Mătăsaru v. the Republic of Moldova , nos. 69714/16 and 71685/16, 15 January 2019)?

The Government are invited to submit a full copy of the case-file in the domestic proceedings.