26
GUZZARDI v. ITALY JUDGMENT
dismissed the applications (respin[s]e le istanze), whilst letting it be
understood that the applicant’s living conditions should be improved and
directing that a copy of its decision be communicated to the Minister of the
Interior and to the Sassari questore (see paragraph 20 above).
Besides, on 22 July 1976 the same Regional Court did order Mr.
Guzzardi’s transfer to Force, as requested by the Milan questore on the
previous day (see paragraph 21 above).
79. Accordingly, the Government have not shown that the applicant
ought to have directed his request for a change in his place of residence - or
any complaint regarding his circumstances on Asinara - to the
administrative rather than the judicial authorities, subject to having recourse
to an ordinary or administrative court in the event of his representations
being rejected. The Government were unable to cite any precedent in
support of their submissions (see the verbatim record of the hearings of 29
January 1980 - the reply given to questions 2 and 4 put by the Court; cf. the
above-mentioned Deweer judgment, p. 18, par. 32).
80. The Court notes furthermore that in many instances the laws of the
Contracting States enable an individual, whether or not he relies on changed
circumstances, to seek a cancellation or mitigation of a decision in force,
even a judicial decision, without being defeated by the rule of res judicata.
Were Article 26 (art. 26) to make mandatory the taking of such steps, which
by their very nature may be repeated an indefinite number of times, it might
very well erect a permanent barrier to bringing matters before the
Commission; the Delegates rightly stressed this point.
81. The second branch also of the objection of non-exhaustion is
therefore not substantiated.
C. The plea as to the disappearance of the object of the proceedings
82. Mr. Guzzardi left Cala Reale for Force on July 1976, before the
Commission had drawn up its report (7 December 1978) or even accepted
the application (1 March 1977), and since November 1977 Asinara has no
longer been used as a place for compulsory residence (see paragraphs 21
and 43 above). In the Government’s submission, the proceedings had
therefore become devoid of object in that Mr. Guzzardi had achieved the
aim he was pursuing through his transfer request of 14 November 1975 (see
paragraph 20 above) and his petition to the Commission; a judgment by the
Court would not be able to afford him any greater relief, especially since the
conditions for the application of Article 50 (art. 50) were not fulfilled.
83. No issue as to estoppel arises here, as both before and after 1 March
1977 the Government had argued the point before the Commission. The
latter gave no ruling thereon (see the admissibility decision, in the section
entitled "Submissions of the parties", par. 1-A, V-1 in fine and VI-1 in fine;
and the report, paragraph 67).