ABSTRACT
On 19 May 1982, Mr T’s daughter, aged 14, lodged a complaint with the Genoa public prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation concerning T in connection with an alleged rape. On 15 February 1983 it sent to him in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a ‘judicial notification’ advising him that proceedings had been instituted and inviting him to provide an address for service in Italy. The applicant claimed that he did not receive the notification in question because on 13 February he had left Jeddah, where he had worked for a time, for Khartoum, Sudan. He had, moreover, visited the Italian Embassy there to report his change of address. The investigating judge declared the applicant untraceable and designated a lawyer to act for him. Thereafter all the documents which were to be notified to the applicant were lodged with the registry, his lawyer being informed thereof on each occasion. On 9 October 1984 the Genoa District Court convicted Mr T in absentia and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment, to be stripped of his civic rights and to accessory penalties. The officially appointed lawyer appealed. On 1 October 1986 the Genoa Court of Appeal upheld the contested judgment. On 4 March 1987 the Genoa public prosecutor’s office issued a warrant for Mr T’s arrest. On 20 August he was arrested in Copenhagen, on the premises of the Italian Embassy, and extradited on 29 October. He lodged an objection to the execution of the warrant which was dismissed by the Genoa District Court on 17 December. A further appeal to the Court of Cassation was rejected. He complained of his trial in absentia. Comm found unanimously V 6(1).
