A 64-year-old man who has spent 30 years locked in a legal battle to renounce his son despite DNA tests showing he is the biological father has lost his case at the European Court of Human Rights.
The court said the man’s complaints that his human rights had been breached were “ill-founded” and could not be accepted.
The man, who is not being named to protect the identity of his 39-year-old son, began his legal wrangle in 1987, when he was diagnosed with a condition – Sertoli cell only syndrome – which prevents him from having children. His son was 11 at the time.
Following his diagnosis, he went to court for the disavowal of his paternity. In 1992, DNA tests at a London laboratory confirmed that the man was the boy’s biological father. However, he did not accept the result and even alleged that his own father could have been the boy’s natural parent.
He submitted certification by an English endocrinologist that it was likely that the man had been born with this condition.
The court, however, dismissed this argument saying there was no evidence that his wife had been adulterous, whether with his father or with any other man and that the DNA result was clear.
This was confirmed on appeal and also an application in which he requested a new, more modern DNA test – PowerPlex 16 – which could obtain more accurate results. But even this was dismissed.
He has a condition which prevents him from having children
In 2006, the man instituted constitutional proceedings, claiming his right to a fair trial had been violated, as the court had wrongly assessed the evidence before it, especially the “outdated DNA test”. Moreover, he claimed that his right to determine paternity had been hindered by the court’s decision to reject his request for a modern DNA test.
During the proceedings, the court heard that the 1992 DNA test was 99.9 per cent accurate and made use of 21 variable markers. On the other hand, the PP16, which became available in 2000, made use of 16 markers to determine identity.
The constitutional court rejected the claims, saying the new test would not offer further advantages. It found no breaches of human rights and noted that the man had failed to request such a test when the case was still pending in 2002.
The case reached the European Court of Human Right, and in a decision last week it dismissed the application, calling it inadmissible. It said the Constitutional Court in Malta had struck a balance between the man’s right to know whether he was really the father, the son’s right to have legal certainty of his family ties and the mother’s right to clear her reputation.
Tonio Azzopardi appeared for the man.