Inadmissibility decision concerning Romania
The Court has declared inadmissible the application in the case of Secară v. Romania.
The case concerned the fairness of criminal proceedings which had led to the applicant’s conviction, on appeal, for dissipation of assets and money-laundering. Before the Court, she complained that the appellate court had convicted her without directly taking evidence – witness testimony, more specifically – even though she had been acquitted at first instance on the basis of such evidence.
Before applying to the Court, the applicant had lodged an appeal on points of law with the High Court of Cassation and Justice (“the High Court”), which had been dismissed as unfounded, as neither the factual circumstances as established by the appellate court nor the evidence could be re-examined on the ground of appeal relied upon.
The Court noted that the extraordinary remedy before the High Court was not an avenue of redress for the violation alleged before it. The final domestic decision in the present case was the appellate court’s judgment of November 2021. Since the application had been lodged in December 2022, it had to be rejected for failure to comply with the six-month time-limit.