The applicants, C.S. and C.A.S., father and son, are Romanian nationals who were born in 1954 and 1990 respectively and currently live in Iasi (Romania).The case concerns C.A.S.’ complaint that it took the authorities seven years to investigate his repeated raped by a man, eventually acquitted, who forced his way into the family flat when he came home alone from school in a period from January to April 1998. C.A.S., 7-years’ old at the time, alleges in particular that the violent sexual abuse to which he was subjected was of such gravity that it amounted to torture, and that the proceedings were slanted, the domestic courts blaming his parents, and to a certain extent him, for not reacting sooner.
He relies on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life and the home). Both applicants further complain under Article 8 that their family life was destroyed and that they were forced to leave the town in which they lived to rebuild a normal life.
ECHR judge Corneliu Barsan said prosecutors who searched his home and confiscated his wife's computer and documents violated the Vienna Convention, which covers both him and his spouse, Gabriela.
