GUZZARDI v. ITALY JUDGMENT 25 75. Doubts could arise as to whether, once the proceedings relative to the measure complained of had terminated with the judgment of 6 October 1975, the applicant was still obliged to apply for a transfer in order to comply with Article 26 (art. 26). The Court has nevertheless also examined the second branch of the objection (see paragraph 66 above). (a) Estoppel 76. From the very beginning, the Government contended that Mr. Guzzardi, by failing to await the outcome of his request of 14 November 1975 to the Milan Regional Court, had been premature in applying to the Commission (see their observations of 3 September 1976, 21 January 1977 and 21 February 1977). They further criticised him for not having challenged on appeal and then, if need be, in cassation the decision given by the Regional Court on 20 January 1976 (ibid.) This latter criticism, which was subsequently abandoned, was supplemented by another in a memorial which, being dated 21 February 1977, preceded the closure of the initial examination of admissibility (1 March 1977): the Government claimed, as they subsequently did before the Court, that the request in question was addressed to an authority lacking jurisdiction. There is thus no estoppel in respect of the second branch of their preliminary objection. b) Whether the objection is substantiated 77. The fact that Mr. Catalano’s first letter (17 November 1975) predated by a few weeks the decision of the Milan Regional Court (20 January 1976) is of little consequence for the purposes of Article 26 (art. 26) of the Convention; for that Court had already delivered its ruling when the Commission registered the application (2 February 1976) and, a fortiori, when it accepted the application (cf., mutatis mutandis, the abovementioned Ringeisen judgment, pp. 36-38, par. 85-93). 78. Neither does the Court share the view that the Regional Court lacked jurisdiction. On 14 November 1975, Mr. Guzzardi had filed two distinct applications. The first was addressed to the President of the Milan Regional Court in his capacity of judge supervising the execution of sentences and requested him to cancel the compulsory residence order; the second invited the 2nd Chamber, a collegiate body, to replace Asinara by a district that satisfied certain conditions. Both applications were dealt with on 20 January 1976, in a single decision. The Regional Court first of all declared, in contrast to an Order by the Milan Court of Appeal (dated 27 October 1975), that the implementation of preventive measures was the responsibility of the police and not of the judge supervising the execution of sentences. It did not, however, confine itself to this remark and did not decline its own jurisdiction in the matter: exigencies of the protection of society, it added, justified the special form of isolation undergone by persons residing at Cala Reale. It was apparently for this reason of substance that the Regional Court