2.8 On 5 May 1998 Ms. Koptova, together with Miroslav Lacko (another
employee of the Kosice Legal Defence Foundation) and Jan Lacko, one of the
Romany citizens whose dwellings were destroyed on 21 July 1997, filed
another submission before the Constitutional Court. This submission
challenged the Nagov resolution on the grounds that it unlawfully restricted
the freedom of movement and residence of a group of people solely because
they were Roma. The submission argued that not only Jan Lacko, a
permanent resident of Nagov, but all Roma in Slovakia, including Ms.
Koptova, suffered infringements of their rights under the Slovak Constitution
to freedom of movement and residence, freedom from racial and ethnic
discrimination and freedom in the choice of nationality. On the same date
Julia Demeterova, a permanent resident of Rokytovce and another of the
Romany citizens whose dwellings had been destroyed, filed a submission
with the Constitutional Court challenging the Rokytovce resolution on the
same grounds.
2.9 On 16 June 1998 the Constitutional Court issued two written opinions
dismissing both petitions on similar grounds. In response to Jan Lacko's
submission the Court reasoned that, as a permanent resident of Nagov, he
had not provided any evidence to show that the Nagov resolution had in fact
been applied in a manner which would infringe his rights. As to Miroslav
Lacko and Ms. Koptova, both of whom had permanent residence outside
Nagov, the Court found no evidence that either had tried to enter or move
into the community of Nagov, or that the community had tried to stop them.
Accordingly, the Court found, their rights had not been violated. With respect
to Demeterova's submission the Court found that, as a permanent resident of
Rokytovce, she had provided no evidence that the resolution had in fact been
applied in a manner which infringed her rights.
2.10 Since the adoption of both resolutions at issue Anna Koptova has not
gone to Rokytovce or Nagov. She fears that, as a Slovak citizen of Romany
ethnicity, she would be subjected to violence if she were to enter either
municipality.
The complaint
3.1 The author asserts that a number of rights to which she is entitled under
the Convention have been violated, including the following:
Article 2.1 (a). The institutions which have adopted the resolutions in
question are local public authorities and public institutions. By
maintaining the resolutions in force the Slovak Republic has engaged
in acts of racial discrimination against the author and other Roma and
has failed to ensure that all public authorities and public institutions,