issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 082 (2018)
01.03.2018
Judgments and decisions of 1 March 2018
The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing five judgments1 and 53 decisions2:
two Chamber judgments are summarised below; a separate press release has been issued for one
other Chamber judgment in the case of Selami and Others v. ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia’ (application no. 78241/13);
separate press releases have also been issued for two decisions, in the cases of Bonnaud and Lecoq
v. France (no. 6190/11) and Calancea and Others v. the Republic of Moldova (no. 23225/05);
two Committee judgments, concerning issues which have already been submitted to the Court, and
The judgments in French below are indicated with an asterisk (*).
T.C.E. v. Germany (application no. 58681/12)
The applicant, T.C.E., is a Nigerian national who was born in 1975 and lives in Germany.
The case concerned the authorities’ refusal to grant T.C.E. a residence permit despite his argument
that he had a daughter in Germany, with whom he had enjoyed family life within the meaning of the
European Convention on Human Rights.
T.C.E. arrived in Germany, for a second time, in October 2000. His daughter, a German national, was
born the same month. In May 2002 he was sentenced to eight years in jail for drug trafficking and in
March 2003 a court refused to extend his residence permit and ordered his expulsion to Nigeria on
his release. However, after his release in July 2009 he was granted exceptional leave to remain
(“Duldung”) and in September of that year he applied for a residence permit based on family ties.
After two rounds of administrative and lower court proceedings, the Bavarian Administrative Court
of Appeal denied his right to a residence permit. It based its decision in particular on the fact that
there was a final expulsion decision against him and that he did not have a valid passport, which was
a condition to be granted such a permit. In September 2012 the Nigerian Embassy in Germany
refused to issue a passport to T.C.E. while proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights
were still in progress. He has remained in Germany.
Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on
Human Rights, T.C.E. complained about the domestic authorities’ refusal to issue him a residence
permit.
No violation of Article 8
1
Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a Chamber
judgment’s 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. Under Article 28 of the
Convention, judgments delivered by a Committee are final.
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
2
Inadmissibility and strike-out decisions are final.
