The case concerns the exclusion of a family from an official witness protection programme. The applicants are Mr R.R., a Serbian national who lives in Hungary, his common-law wife, Ms H.H., a Hungarian national, and their three children. Mr R.R., once active in a drug-trafficking mafia run by Serbians, was arrested in Hungary and given a plea bargain in exchange of information about the mafia’s activities. Obliged to testify in open court and therefore exposed to the risk of vengeance from the Serbian mafia, he and his family were subsequently enrolled in a witness protection programme with new identity papers, allowances and accommodation. The family allege that their exclusion from this programme on the ground that Mr R.R. had remained in contact with criminal groups put their lives at risk from mafia retribution, in breach of Article 2 (right to life).
(citation from the official press-release prepared by the European Court of Human Rights)