Source: http://www.humanrights.is/the-human-rights-project/humanrightscasesandmaterials/cases/regionalcases/europeancourtofhumanrights/nr/502
Timestamp: 2013-12-12 21:05:32
Document Index: 216970917

Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 32', 'art. 47', 'art. 25', 'art. 44', 'art. 48', 'art. 46', 'art. 43', 'in fine', 'art. 43']

Gitonas et al. v. Greece, Application Nos. 18747/91, 19376/92, 19379/92, 28208/95, 27755/95, Judgement of 1 July 1997 | European Court of Human Rights | Humanrights.is
Gitonas et al. v. Greece, Application Nos. 18747/91, 19376/92, 19379/92, 28208/95, 27755/95, Judgement of 1 July 1997
GITONAS AND OTHERS v. GREECE (18747/91) [1997] ECHR 35 (1 July 1997)
In the case of Gitonas and Others v. Greece (1),
Having deliberated in private on 22 March and 23 June 1997,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the last-mentioned date: Notes by the Registrar
1. The case originated in a decision to join cases 68/1996/687/877-879, 17/1997/801/1004 and 23/1997/807/1010. In each individual case number, the first number is that case's position on the list of cases referred to the Court in the relevant year (second number). The third number indicates that case's position on the list of cases referred to the Court since its creation and the last number or numbers indicate its position on the list of the corresponding originating applications to the Commission.
1. The case was referred to the Court as three separate cases (Gitonas and Others v. Greece, Kavaratzis v. Greece and Giakoumatos v. Greece) by the European Commission of Human Rights ("the Commission") on 28 May 1996 and 22 and 27 January 1997, within the three-month period laid down by Article 32 para. 1 and Article 47 of the Convention (art. 32-1, art. 47). It originated in five applications (nos. 18747/91, 19376/92, 19379/92, 28208/95 and 27755/95) against the Hellenic Republic lodged with the Commission under Article 25 (art. 25) by five Greek nationals, Mr Konstantinos Gitonas, Mr Dimitrios Paleothodoros, Mr Nicolaos Sifounakis, Mr Ioannis Kavaratzis and Mr Gerassimos Giakoumatos on 12 June 1991, 22 November 1991 and 16 and 28 May 1995.
The Commission's requests referred to Articles 44 and 48 (art. 44, art. 48) and to the declaration whereby Greece recognised the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court (Article 46) (art. 46). The object of the requests was to obtain a decision as to whether the facts of the cases disclosed a breach by the respondent State of its obligations under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (P1-3).
3. The Chamber to be constituted in the case of Gitonas and Others included ex officio Mr N. Valticos, the elected judge of Greek nationality (Article 43 of the Convention) (art. 43), and Mr R. Ryssdal, the President of the Court (Rule 21 para. 4 (b)). On 10 June 1996, in the presence of the Registrar, the President drew by lot the names of the other seven members, namely Mr L.-E. Pettiti, Mr C. Russo, Mr A. Spielmann, Mr R. Pekkanen, Mr L. Wildhaber, Mr P. Kuris and Mr J. Casadevall, (Article 43 in fine of the Convention and Rule 21 para. 5) (art. 43). Subsequently Mr Thór Vilhjálmsson, substitute judge, replaced Mr Wildhaber, who was unable to take part in the further consideration of the case (Rules 22 para. 1 and 24 para. 1). On 29 January 1997 the President decided that, in the interests of the proper administration of justice, the cases of Kavaratzis and Giakoumatos should be considered by the Chamber already constituted to hear the case of Gitonas and Others (Rule 21 para. 7).
4. As President of the Chamber (Rule 21 para. 6), Mr Ryssdal, acting through the Registrar, consulted the Agent of the Greek Government ("the Government"), the applicants' lawyers and the Delegate of the Commission on the organisation of the proceedings (Rules 37 para. 1 and 38). Pursuant to the order made in consequence, the Registrar received on 17 and 20 January 1997 respectively the applicants' and the Government's memorials in the case of Gitonas and Others, and on 19, 20 and 24 February the Government's and the applicants' memorials in the cases of Kavaratzis and Giakoumatos.
5. On 19 March 1997 the Chamber decided to join the three cases (Rule 37 para. 3). In accordance with the President's decision, the hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 19 March 1997. The Court had held a preparatory meeting beforehand.
Mr G. Kanellopoulos, Legal Assistant, Legal Council of State, Delegate of the Agent, Mrs K. Grigoriou, Legal Assistant, Legal Council of State, Adviser;
(c) for four of the applicants (Mr Gitonas, Mr Paleothodoros, Mr Sifounakis and Mr Giakoumatos)
Mr C. Mavrias, university professor, Counsel;
(d) for the fifth applicant (Mr Kavaratzis)
Mr G. Theofanous, of the Athens Bar, Counsel.
The Court heard addresses by Mr Loucaides, Mr Mavrias, Mr Theofanous and Mr Kanellopoulos.
A. The case of Mr Gitonas
6. On 18 November 1986 Mr Gitonas, then an employee of the Investment Bank (Trapeza Ependisseon), was seconded to the post of Deputy Head (Anaplirotis Genikos Diefthindis) of the Prime Minister's private office. He occupied that post for a period of approximately thirty months until 24 May 1989, when his secondment ended.
7. In the general election of 8 April 1990 the applicant stood as a candidate for the Socialist Party (PA.SO.K) in the second Athens constituency. As he obtained more than the required minimum number of votes for election, the Athens Court of First Instance (Polymeles protodikio) declared in a decision of 17 April 1990 that he had been elected.
8. On 26 and 27 April and 2 May 1990 three members of the constituency's electorate lodged an application with the Special Supreme Court (Anotato Idiko Dikastirio) for an order annulling Mr Gitonas's election. They relied on Article 56 para. 3 of the Constitution (see paragraph 29 below) and maintained, inter alia, that the applicant's election was a nullity as, before the election, he had held the post of Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's private office, a ground for disqualification from standing for election under that Article.
9. In the proceedings the applicant argued that as an employee of the Investment Bank, a private-law entity, he could not be considered a civil servant and he pointed out that he had become deputy head of the Prime Minister's private office by secondment.
10. The Special Supreme Court considered the three applications together and gave its judgment (no. 16/1991) by nine votes to two on 23 January 1991. It annulled Mr Gitonas's election on the following grounds:
"Under [Article 56 para. 3], as is apparent both from its wording (the disqualification applies in `any' constituency) and from its purpose (to deter civil servants ... from using their posts to prepare for a political career, and at the same time to ensure that civil servants are politically neutral in the performance of their duties as required by the Constitution and by statute), the disqualification covers the whole geographical area in which those duties were performed ..., so that a civil servant who has general responsibility throughout Greece may not become an elected member of parliament in any constituency. The bar applies in all cases where the post has been occupied for more than three months during the three years preceding the election even if, in the interval between the post being taken up and the election, another general election took place in which the person concerned stood as a candidate ...
The aforementioned constitutional provision means that the bar applies irrespective of the lawfulness of the administrative act whereby the post was filled ...
The provision applies to salaried civil servants appointed to established posts expressly created by law and governed exclusively by public-law rules; included within that category are dismissable civil servants in temporary posts within the meaning of Article 103 para. 5 of the Constitution ...
Law no. 1299/1982 on `the organisation of the Prime Minister's private office' established an independent public service to assist and directly serve the Prime Minister in the performance of his duties. To this political private office of the Prime Minister ... were subsequently added - by decision of the Prime Minister taken under section 12 (b) of Law no. 1299/1982 - the special office of the deputy head responsible for supervising and implementing the decisions of the public government bodies and of the Prime Minister, and a category A post of Deputy Director-General. Generally speaking, the ordinary rules do not apply to recruitment to posts in the Prime Minister's political private office, which are filled, without any competition being held, either by appointment or secondment from the civil service or a public-law or public-sector entity, or by assignment of duties which the person concerned performs concurrently ... with those of his usual occupation, as determined by the Prime Minister, in a decision published in the Official Gazette (section 6). Under section 6 (1), persons seconded to the political private office of the Prime Minister must elect whether to receive their entire remuneration of all kinds from their permanent post or from the post to which they have been seconded ... It is apparent from the aforementioned provisions that the post of Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's political private office ... is a remunerated post occupied by a dismissable civil servant within the meaning of Article 103 para. 5 of the Constitution, with general and decision-making responsibility for the entire country, and as such is covered by Article 56 para. 3.
... The documents in the case file show that [the applicant] was seconded from the Investment Bank to the post of Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's political private office by decision no. Y311/1986, of the then Prime Minister, published in the Official Gazette of 18 November 1986, and served in that post continuously until 24 May 1989, when his secondment was ended by a similar decision of the Prime Minister ... By a written declaration of 18 November 1986 [the applicant] elected to receive the remuneration attaching to his permanent post. Consequently, as he occupied a remunerated post in category A, with nationwide responsibility, for more than three months during the three years preceding the general election of 8 April 1990, he was barred from standing as a candidate or being elected as a member of parliament in that election even if, in the interval between his taking up that post and the latest election, another election had been held in which [the applicant] had stood."
In a dissenting opinion two members of the Special Supreme Court took the view that section 12 (b) of Law no. 1299/1982 did not authorise the creation of a post of Deputy Director-General and that the applicant had never acquired the status of salaried civil servant; even supposing that the Investment Bank belonged to the public sector and that the post had been created under the provisions of Law no. 1299/1982, the applicant's secondment had been temporary, which meant that he had retained his former status as an employee of the bank, which continued to pay his salary.
B. The case of Mr Paleothodoros
11. On 10 November 1987 Mr Paleothodoros was appointed Director-General of Greece's second television channel (Elliniki Tileorassi 2, "ET2") by a resolution of the board of governors of the Greek Broadcasting Company (ERT-AE), a public company. He occupied that post for approximately a year, until 23 November 1988.
12. In the election of 8 April 1990 the applicant stood as a candidate for the electoral coalition "Zante Initiative for Progress, Development and Simple Proportional Representation" (Zakinthini Protovoulia gia proodo - anaptixi - apli analogiki) in the Zante constituency. As he obtained more than the required minimum number of votes for election, the Zante Court of First Instance declared, in a decision of 11 April 1990, that he had been elected.
13. On 25 April 1990 a member of the constituency's electorate, relying on Article 56 para. 3 of the Constitution (see paragraph 29 below), lodged an application with the Special Supreme Court for an order annulling Mr Paleothodoros's election on the ground that during the period preceding the election Mr Paleothodoros had occupied the post of Director-General of ET2.
14. The Special Supreme Court, by six votes to five, annulled the election in a judgment (no. 41/1991) of 29 May 1991 in these terms:
The disqualification [from standing for election] also applies where, in the interval between the disqualifying post being taken up and the relevant election, another election took place in which the person concerned stood as a candidate. The possibility that a civil servant will use his post to prepare for his political career does in fact exist in this case too, as the effects of such preparations are not limited to the election immediately following the taking up of the post but may extend to subsequent elections; consequently, it has to be accepted that the civil servant continues to be disqualified under the Constitution, if the election takes place within three years as specified in the Constitution.
A public undertaking is an undertaking which under the law ... exists to promote the general interest, in the form of a legal entity over which the State exerts a decisive influence and which operates acc