GUZZARDI v. ITALY JUDGMENT 19 does not oblige them to specify which Article, paragraph or sub-paragraph or even which right they are praying in aid. The Commission has given the above-cited phrase an interpretation which corresponds to the purpose and object of the Convention: from the outset it inserted in its Rules of Procedure a clause to the effect that the application should set out "as far as possible" - this being very flexible wording - "the provision of the Convention alleged to have been violated" (Rule 41 par. 1 from 1955 to 1974, subsequently Rule 38 par. 1). Any greater strictness would lead to unjust consequences; for the vast majority of "individual" petitions are received from laymen applying to the Commission without the assistance of a lawyer (see the Ringeisen judgment of 16 July 1971, Series A no. 13, p. 38, par. 92). 62. The Government did not, moreover, dispute the Commission’s and the Court’s power, inherent in the nature of their functions, to decide upon the characterisation in law to be given to a matter (see the König judgment of 28 June 1978, Series A no. 27, p. 32, par. 96); however, in the Government’s submission the applicant had not even raised in substance the issue of an infringement of his physical liberty. In support of this contention, they referred principally to Mr. Catalano’s first letter, dated 17 November 1975, and to the application form and explanatory memorandum of 30 January 1976 (see paragraph 53 above). It should not be forgotten, however, that the original application sent to the Commission is often followed by additional documents intended to complete it by eliminating initial omissions or obscurities (see the abovementioned Ringeisen judgment, pp. 37-38, par. 90). The Court would also point out that from the start Mr. Catalano described Cala Reale as an "extremely small area", "guarded by the police" who used to "forbid access to anybody and everybody", a scrap of land (pezzo or pezzetto di terra) "inhabited only by habitual criminals and police officers"; his client, he added, was being subjected there to "the most barbarous imprisonment, the most degrading and pernicious incarceration" (and a violation of the right to a proper administration of justice). For the Government, these expressions were merely "hyperboles and metaphors" employed in a context alien to Article 5 (art. 5) (see page 18 of the memorial of 8 February 1978), but the Court considers, as did the Commission, that they amounted to a complaint of a failure to observe the right guaranteed by Article 5 (art. 5). 63. Furthermore, it is not decisive whether Mr. Guzzardi was complaining of his living conditions on Asinara rather than of a deprivation of liberty. It is somewhat unreal to draw such distinction in the present case. The Commission and the Court have to examine in the light of the Convention as a whole the situation impugned by an applicant. In the performance of this task, they are, notably, free to give to the facts of the case, as found to be established by the material before them (see the Ireland v. the United Kingdom judgment of 18 January 1978, Series A no. 25, p. 64,