issued by the Registrar of the Court  
ECHR 181 (2012)  
24.04.2012  
Hungary failed to protect woman from abusive partner despite  
repeated requests to have him evicted from their shared flat  
In today’s Chamber judgment in the case Kalucza v. Hungary (application  
no. 57693/10), which is not final1, the European Court of Human Rights held,  
unanimously, that there had been:  
a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European  
Convention on Human Rights.  
The Court found that the Hungarian authorities had not taken sufficient measures for  
Ms Kalucza’s effective protection from her former partner’s violent behaviour, despite  
criminal complaints lodged against him for assault, repeated requests for a restraining  
order against him and civil proceedings to order his eviction from their flat.  
Principal facts  
The applicant, Matild Kalucza, is a Hungarian national who was born in 1969 and lives in  
Budapest (Hungary). She unwillingly shares her flat with her violent partner, Gy.B.,  
pending numerous civil disputes concerning the ownership of the flat.  
Divorced, Ms Kalucza started a relationship with Gy.B. in April 2005. Ms Kalucza had  
joint ownership of a flat with her ex-husband and, at the start of her relationship with  
Gy.B., he decided to pay her ex-husband’s share in the flat. He officially acquired  
ownership of this share in January 2006 and the flat was registered as his place of  
residence in November 2006.  
The couple’s relationship, involving regular mutual verbal and physical assaults,  
deteriorated and ended in about January 2007.  
Since that time, Gy.B. has continued to stay in the jointly owned flat against  
Ms Kalucza’s wishes and their disputes still take place. She has requested the help of the  
authorities on numerous occasions, lodging criminal complaints for rape, assault and  
harassment. On four occasions, Gy.B. was acquitted of the charges. On five occasions  
the proceedings were discontinued as Ms Kalucza did not wish to continue them or failed  
to prosecute privately. On two occasions Gy.B. was found guilty of assault, released on  
parole and ordered to pay a fine. On three occasions Ms Kalucza herself was found guilty  
of disorderly conduct, grievous bodily harm and assault. Criminal proceedings for  
trespassing brought by Gy.B. are currently pending against her because she had the  
flat’s locks changed.  
1 Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, this Chamber judgment is not final. During the three-month  
period following its delivery, any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the  
Court. If such a request is made, a panel of five judges considers whether the case deserves further  
examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and deliver a final judgment. If the referral  
request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day.  
Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for  
supervision of its execution. Further information about the execution process can be found here:  
www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution  
During these criminal proceedings, Ms Kalucza also made two requests for a restraining  
order to be brought against Gy.B.. Her first request, made in June 2008, was dismissed  
by the courts in January 2010 on the ground that both parties were responsible for their  
bad relationship. Her subsequent second request was dismissed for the same reason.  
There are also three sets of civil proceedings, suspended since 2007 and 2008,  
concerning the flat: one set was brought by Ms Kalucza requesting that Gy.B. be ordered  
to leave the flat; and, two sets concern ownership of the flat.  
Between October 2005 and August 2010, 13 medical reports were drawn up which  
recorded contusions mostly to Ms Kalucza’s head, face, chest and neck with an expected  
healing time of eight to ten days.  
Complaints, procedure and composition of the Court  
Relying on Articles 2 (right to a life), 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment),  
8 (right to respect of private and family life) and 13 (right to an effective remedy),  
Ms Kalucza alleged that the Hungarian authorities have failed to protect her from  
constant physical and psychological abuse in her home.  
The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 25 September  
2010.  
Judgment was given by a Chamber of seven, composed as follows:  
Françoise Tulkens (Belgium), President,  
Danutė Jočienė (Lithuania),  
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre (Monaco),  
András Sajó (Hungary),  
Işıl Karakaş (Turkey),  
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque (Portugal),  
Helen Keller (Switzerland), Judges,  
and also Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar.  
Decision of the Court  
Article 8 (private life)  
The Court considered Ms Kalucza’s claims concerning Gy.B.’s threat to her physical  
integrity in their shared flat, including the allegation that he had frequently attacked her,  
to be credible. There was therefore no doubt that Ms Kalucza’s application fell within the  
sphere of private life under Article 8 of the Convention. The Hungarian authorities were  
therefore obliged under the Convention to take measures to protect Ms Kalucza from her  
former partner’s violent behaviour in her home.  
However, the Court was struck that it had taken the authorities more than one-and-half  
years to decide on Ms Kalucza’s first request for a restraining order, despite the fact that  
the fundamental reason behind such a measure was to provide immediate or at least  
prompt protection to victims of violence. Nor had sufficient reasons been given for  
dismissing the restraining order requests, the courts relying simply on the fact that both  
parties were involved in the assaults. Indeed, if such a measure could not be ordered in  
the event of a mutual assault, the possibility of a victim having acted in legitimate self-  
defence would be ruled out and the aim of providing effective protection to victims would  
be seriously undermined. Moreover, restraining orders could have been issued against  
both parties.  
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Lastly, the courts had also failed to comply with their obligation to decide on the civil  
cases concerning the flat, within a reasonable time. Notably, those proceedings are still  
pending since 2007 and 2008 despite the fact that they would, in theory, eradicate the  
root of the problem, namely the unwanted residence of Gy.B. in the flat.  
The Court therefore found that, even though Ms Kalucza had lodged criminal complaints  
against her partner for assault, had repeatedly requested restraining orders to be  
brought against him and had brought civil proceedings to order his eviction from the flat,  
the Hungarian authorities had not taken sufficient measures for her effective protection,  
in violation of Article 8.  
Other articles  
Given the finding under Article 8, the Court further held that there was no need to  
examine separately Ms Kalucza’s complaints under Article 2 (unanimously) or under  
Articles 3 and 13 (six votes to one).  
Article 41 (just satisfaction)  
The Court held that Hungary was to pay Ms Kalucza 5,150 euros (EUR) in respect of non  
pecuniary damage.  
The judgment is available only in English.  
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The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of  
Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European  
Convention on Human Rights.  
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