Mr. Gregory Thuan dit Dieudonné has successfully represented the interests of his clients in cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights and has had several States condemned for human rights violations (Article 8 of the ECHR):
By a judgment of January 18, 2018 (OLLER KAMINSKA v. POLAND, request 28481/12), the European Court of Human Rights has again condemned Poland for violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to respect for family life).
In this case, relating to international child abduction from Ireland to Poland, Mr. THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ defended the interests of the victim parent, Mrs Oller Kaminska, mother of the abducted child, who now resides permanently by her side. Ireland.
In its judgment, the Court ordered Poland, for violating the positive obligations under Article 8 of the ECHR, to pay 25,000 euros in fair satisfaction under Article 41 of the ECHR.
Attached is the English-language judgment for details.
By judgment of September 21, 2017 (SÉVÈRE v. AUSTRIA, No. 53661/15), the European Court of Human Rights condemned Austria for violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to respect for family life).
In this case, relating to international child abduction to Austria, Mr. THUAN DIT DIEUDONNÉ defended the interests of Mr Michel Sévère, a French national who was the victim of the abduction.
The French State, in an exceptional way, intervened in the proceedings in support of the applicant as a third party, taking into account the attitude of the Austrian authorities.
In its judgment, the Court ordered Austria, for breach of the positive obligations under Article 8 of the ECHR, to pay 33,000 euros in damages to the applicant under Article 41 of the ECHR.
For more details, you will find a copy of the judgment, in English only.
By a judgment of July 19, 2016 (G. N. c. Poland, 2171/14), the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Poland for violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to respect for family life).
In that case, Mr. THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ defended the interests of the applicant G. N. against Poland, following the illegal international displacement of his son to that state, and the arbitrary refusal of the Polish national courts to order his return. Canada, the place of his usual residence prior to his abduction.
In its judgment, the Court considers that Poland has clearly breached its international obligations arising from the applicant’s right to respect for family life, both materially and procedurally.
On the merits, the Court takes the exact opposite view of the assessment made by the Polish courts, which it considers to be incorrect, concerning the interpretation of exceptions to the immediate return of abducted children, under Article 13 (b) of the Convention on 25 October 1980, and the assessment of the best interests of the child.
For more details, you will find a copy of the judgment in English.
By a judgment of March 1, 2016 (K.J. v. Poland, No. 30813/14), the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Poland for multiple violations of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In that case, Mr. THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ defended the interests of the applicant K. J against Poland, following the illegal international displacement of his daughter to that state and the arbitrary refusal of the Polish national courts to order his immediate return. United Kingdom, the place of his usual residence.
In its judgment, the Court considers that Poland has clearly breached its international obligations arising from the applicant’s right to respect for family life, both materially and procedurally.
On the merits, the Court takes the exact opposite view of the assessment made by the Polish courts, which it considers to be incorrect, concerning the interpretation of exceptions to the immediate return of abducted children, under Article 13 (b) of the Convention on The Hague of 25 October 1980.
For more details, you will find a copy of the judgment and press releases written in English and French.
The case concerned the fact that the Hungarian authorities had failed to enforce a father’s right to see his two daughters, despite being granted sole custody in Italy, in connection with an international child abduction.
The applicants in this case are Francesco Cavani, an Italian national born in 1971, and his two daughters, Ester Cavani and Anna Maria Cavani, who were born in 2003 and 2004 respectively and both hold Hungarian and Italian nationalities. Mr. Cavani resides in Formigine, Italy.
In 2004, the mother took Ester and Anna Maria out of Italy, where the family was staying at the time, to take them to Hungary. After the mother refused to return to Italy with her daughters, Mr. Cavani took the case to both Hungarian and Italian justice. In November 2005, the Hungarian courts ordered the return of Mr. Cavani’s daughters to Italy. This decision has still not been implemented: in July 2010, the mother was arrested under a European arrest warrant but was quickly released without being able to reunite Mr. Cavani and his daughters or establish their whereabouts; in October 2011, she was sentenced in her absence to a 200-day fine. In the meantime, the Italian courts granted Mr. Cavani sole custody of his daughters and annulled the marriage between mr. Cavani and his ex-wife. Mr. Cavani later withdrew a criminal complaint for child abduction in the Italian courts, in the hope of calming the situation and allowing his ex-wife to travel freely to Italy with her daughters.
Invoking Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights, Mr Cavani and his daughters complained that the Hungarian authorities were repeatedly failed to implement the legally binding decision of November 2005, so they hadn’t seen each other since 2005, even occasionally.
Violation of Article 8
In a particularly important house judgment, rendered that day in Shaw v. Hungary, (request No. 6457/09) the European Court of Human Rights unanimously says that there has been: Violation of Article 8 (right to privacy and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In this case, the Hungarian authorities had not ensured that a child removed from French territory by her mother for four and a half years, returned to Paris with her father, making it impossible to visit him while the custody of the child was divided.
The case is part of a particularly complex international child abduction, which required the deployment of extraordinary resources. In the end, only one month after the publication of the Court’s judgment, the child was found, in August 2012, hidden in the basement of his grandparents, in the basement, out of school and suffering from physical affection because of his forced clandestineity!
On 28 January 2015, Mr. THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ was heard, together with Mr Leslie SHAW, by the Gender Equality Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on international child abductions and respect for the rights of fathers in Europe.
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Conference of High Representatives of Ministers of the Interior on the fight against domestic violence Co-organised with the French Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.“The police, a key player in the fight against domestic violence”.24 and 25 September 2019, Council of Europe, Strasbourg Agora Building, room G1
On the occasion of the States General of Family Law, in Paris, Me Thuan Dit Dieudonné animated the workshop on the protection of the child in international law” alongside his friend and colleague Véronique Chauveau on 25 January 2019.