Inadmissibility decision concerning Belgium
The Court declared inadmissible the application in the case of Missaoui and Akhandaf v. Belgium.
The case concerned two applicants who complained that they had been prohibited from entering a public swimming pool in Antwerp while wearing burkinis, on the basis of a municipal by-law. In the domestic proceedings, the applicants did not lodge an appeal on points of law because a lawyer at the Court of Cassation had given a negative opinion on the chances of lodging a successful appeal.
The Court noted that the Court of Cassation had never ruled on the lawfulness of a judicial decision concerning the wearing of a burkini at a public swimming pool. It also observed that there appeared to be divergent case-law on the matter in the lower courts in Belgium. In consequence, the Court considered that the single negative opinion from a lawyer at the Court of Cassation was not, in the circumstances of the case, a valid reason for exempting the applicants from lodging an appeal on points of law with the Court of Cassation.