B.\u00a0\u00a0Relevant domestic law<\/strong><\/p>\n10.\u00a0\u00a0The relevant legal provisions are described in Association\u00a0\u201c21\u00a0December 1989\u201d and Others (cited above, \u00a7\u00a7\u00a095-100, 24\u00a0May 2011).<\/p>\n
The relevant provisions of the former Code of Criminal Procedure (which were in force until 1 February 2014) regarding the participants in criminal proceedings are the following:<\/p>\n
Article 15<\/p>\n
\u201cAn injured person may join the proceedings as a civil party against the accused person or the defendant and against the party that bears civil liability.<\/p>\n
Joining the proceedings as a civil party may be undertaken either during the criminal investigation or in court, before the charges are read out …\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 24<\/p>\n
\u201c1.\u00a0\u00a0A person who has suffered a physical injury or a psychological or material damage as a result of a criminal act is referred to as the injured party, if he or she participates in the criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201d2.\u00a0\u00a0An injured person who undertakes a civil action during the criminal proceedings is referred to as the civil party. …\u201c<\/p>\n
Article 78<\/p>\n
\u201cAny person who has knowledge of a fact or circumstance that might be useful in establishing the truth in the criminal proceedings may be heard as a witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 82<\/p>\n
\u201cThe injured person may be heard as a witness, if he or she does not join the proceedings as a civil party or he or she does not participate in those proceedings as an injured party\u201d<\/p>\n
The new Code of Criminal Procedure (now in force) contains similar provisions:<\/p>\n
Article 20<\/p>\n
\u201c1.\u00a0\u00a0Joining the proceedings as a civil party may be undertaken until the beginning of the court examination [p\u00e2n\u0103 la \u00eenceperea cercet\u0103rii judec\u0103tore\u0219ti] …\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 29<\/p>\n
\u201cThe participants in criminal proceedings are the following: the judicial authorities, counsel, the parties, the main procedural subjects, as well as other procedural subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 32<\/p>\n
\u201c1.\u00a0\u00a0The parties are procedural subjects who undertake a judicial action or against whom a judicial action is undertaken.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0The parties in criminal proceedings are the accused person, the civil party and the party that bears civil liability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 33<\/p>\n
\u201c1.\u00a0\u00a0The main procedural subjects are the suspect and the injured person.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0The main procedural subjects have the same rights and obligations as the parties, save for those granted by law exclusively to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 34<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are other procedural subjects beside those provided by Article 33: witnesses, experts, the interpreter …\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 79<\/p>\n
\u201cA person who has suffered a physical injury or material or psychological damage is referred to as the injured person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 81<\/p>\n
\u201c2.\u00a0\u00a0A person who has suffered a physical injury or material or psychological damage as a result of a criminal act for which a criminal trial is automatically set in motion, and who does not wish to participate in the criminal proceedings, has to inform the judicial authorities of this fact; [they] shall hear that person as a witness, if they consider it necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article 84<\/p>\n
\u201c1.\u00a0\u00a0An injured person who undertakes a civil action during the criminal proceedings is a party in these proceedings and is referred to as the civil party.\u201d<\/p>\n
COMPLAINT<\/strong><\/p>\n11.\u00a0\u00a0The applicant complained under Article 2 of the Convention of the lack of an effective criminal investigation into the events of December 1989 during which he had been injured by gunshot.<\/p>\n
THE LAW<\/strong><\/p>\n12.\u00a0\u00a0The applicant\u2019s complaint relates to the domestic authorities\u2019 failure to carry out an effective and thorough investigation into the events of December 1989 in Bra\u0219ov.<\/p>\n
13.\u00a0\u00a0The Government argued, among other submissions, that the applicant lacked victim status, as he had not expressed any interest in the domestic criminal proceedings, waiving his right to participate as an injured or civil party and giving evidence only as a witness.<\/p>\n
14.\u00a0\u00a0The Court reiterates that, in order to be able to lodge an application under Article 34, a person must be able to claim to be the victim of a violation of the rights set forth in the Convention. In order to claim to be a victim of a violation, a person must be directly affected by the impugned measure: the Convention does not envisage the bringing of an actio\u00a0popularis for the interpretation of the rights it contains (see T\u0103nase\u00a0v.\u00a0Moldova [GC], no. 7\/08, \u00a7 104, ECHR 2010, andCentre\u00a0for\u00a0Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin C\u00e2mpeanu v. Romania [GC], no. 47848\/08, \u00a7 101, ECHR 2014, with further references).<\/p>\n
15.\u00a0\u00a0In the present case, the Court has regard to the fact that the applicant denounced the lack of an effective criminal investigation into the events which led to his injury. The Court also notes that it was the applicant himself who had expressly renounced his right to be an injured party or a civil party, asking to be treated as a witness instead (see paragraph 7 above). In that connection, the Court considers that the applicant cannot claim there had been shortcomings in a criminal investigation in which he had refused to participate. In addition, the Court observes that the applicant\u2019s interest was related rather to the pecuniary rights granted to participants in the 1989 events (see paragraph 6 above).<\/p>\n
16.\u00a0\u00a0It is true that a decision had been adopted by the prosecutor in 2015 in respect of the events of December 1989, including in the applicant\u2019s case (see paragraph 9 above). However, the Court notes that the applicant would not have been able to claim a breach of his rights recognised by the Convention after having expressly informed the domestic authorities of his wish not to be a party in the domestic proceedings. Therefore, the applicant cannot claim to be a victim of a violation of Article 2 of the Convention.<\/p>\n
17.\u00a0\u00a0It follows that the application is incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention within the meaning of Article 35 \u00a7 1\u00a0(a) and must be rejected pursuant to Article 35 \u00a7 4 of the Convention.<\/p>\n
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,<\/p>\n
Declares the application inadmissible.<\/p>\n
Done in English and notified in writing on 27 September 2018.<\/p>\n
Andrea Tamietti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Georges Ravarani
\nDeputy Registrar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 President<\/p>\n