ECHR rules Switzerland begging penalty for Romanian breached European Convention on Human Rights

In a judgment on January 19, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the penalty imposed by Switzerland on a Romanian woman for begging in public in Geneva breached the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case was brought by a Violeta-Sibianca Lăcătuş, a Romanian national from the Roma community who lives in Bistrița-Năsăud. The woman was ordered to pay a CHF 500 fine (approximately EUR 464) for begging in public in Geneva and was detained in a remand prison for five days for failure to pay the fine.

The January 19 ruling is a Chamber judgment, meaning that both sides now have three months within which they can ask for the case to be referred to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR for a final ruling.

ECHR held that there had been a violation of Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court observed that the woman, "who was illiterate and came from an extremely poor family, had no work and was not receiving social benefits. Begging constituted a means of survival for her. Being in a vulnerable situation, the applicant had had the right, inherent in human dignity, to be able to convey her plight and attempt to meet her basic needs by begging," according to a press release issued by the Registrar of the Court.

The Court argued that the penalty imposed on the woman had not been proportionate either to the aim of combating organized crime or to that of protecting the rights of passers-by, residents, and shopkeepers.

In 2011, Violeta Lăcătuş, who was unable to find work, began asking for charity in Geneva. In July of that year, she was ordered to pay an initial fine of CHF 100 (approximately EUR 93) under section 11A of the Geneva Criminal Law Act, which makes it an offense to beg in public places. A sum of CHF 16.75 (approximately EUR 15.50) was confiscated from her on that occasion after a body search by the police.

Over the next two years, she was issued summary penalty orders requiring her to pay eight further fines of the same amount and was twice taken into police custody for three hours. Each of the fines could be replaced by a one-day custodial sentence in the event of non-payment. She appealed against the penalty orders.

In a judgment in January 2014, the Police Court of the Canton of Geneva found her guilty of begging. The court ordered her to pay a fine of CHF 500, to be replaced by a five-day custodial sentence in the event of non-payment, and upheld the confiscation of CHF 16.75.

An appeal she lodged with the Criminal Appeals and Review Division of the Court of Justice of the Canton of Geneva was dismissed in April 2014. She appealed to the Federal Court against that decision, but her appeal was dismissed on September 10, 2014.