Dismissal of a paternity revocation claim due to the child’s refusal to undergo DNA testing
JUDGMENT
Bagniewski v. Poland 31.5.2018 (no. 28475/14)
SUMMARY
Questioning father’s paternity. Genetic testing and lack of biological father-child relationship. Revocation of paternity proceedings based on non-judicial DNA testing. In the judicial process the child’s refusal to undergo DNA testing. Dismissal of father’s claim. No violation of Article 8 (right to respect for family life).
PROVISION
Article 8
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Jacek Bagniewski, is a Polish national who was born in 1965 and lives in Bydgoszcz
(Poland).
The case concerned the dismissal of an action to disclaim paternity brought by a prosecutor on
Mr Bagniewski’s behalf.
In September 1995 Mr Bagniewski married his partner. In February 1997 the latter gave birth to a
son. Mr Bagniewski, being the child’s mother’s husband, was registered as the father in the civil
status register. The couple divorced a few years later.
Subsequently, Mr Bagniewski began to entertain doubts as to his paternity of the child and ordered
a non-judicial DNA test (identification by genetic sampling), providing samples both from himself and
from the child, in his submission. The test results established that there was no biological link
between the two persons sampled.
Mr Bagniewski then asked the prosecutor to lodge an action to disclaim paternity. During the
proceedings the Bydgoszcz District Court ordered a DNA test, which the child and the mother
refused to undergo. In December 2012, on the basis of the non-judicial DNA test ordered by
Mr Bagniewski, the District Court ruled that the latter was not the child’s biological father. On appeal
by the child’s mother, the Bydgoszcz Regional Court dismissed Mr Bagniewski’s action to disclaim
paternity on the grounds that the non-judicial DNA test contested by the child’s mother could not be
considered as decisive evidence in the framework of the civil proceedings and that Mr Bagniewski
could not use the child’s refusal to undergo DNA testing to draw conclusions contrary to the latter’s
best interests.
Relying in particular on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European
Convention on Human Rights, Mr Bagniewski complained about the dismissal of the action to
disclaim paternity.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
No violation of Article 8(echrcaselaw.com editing).
