RAMADAN v. MALTA JUDGMENT 5 applicant had a family life in Malta, and, even if this were so, the revocation of his citizenship would not necessarily result in his having to leave Malta. Indeed, it had not transpired that the applicant would be denied Maltese residence or that he had applied for it and had been refused, nor had a removal order been issued. C. Other developments 28. Following the lodging of the application with the Court, on 16 November 2012 the applicant’s lawyer wrote to the relevant authorities informing them that the case was pending before the Court and that therefore no action should be taken on the basis of the order of 31 July 2007. No feedback, apart from an acknowledgment of receipt, was received concerning that letter. However, although the order to deprive the applicant of his citizenship with immediate effect remains in force, no action has been taken to date in pursuit of the order and no removal order has been issued. 29. Although the applicant considers that the implementation of the order is only a matter of time, he is currently still residing and carrying out his business in Malta. He has a trading licence, which is periodically renewed. He continued using a Maltese passport to travel until 2014, when it expired, as he had failed to return it to the authorities despite their request. 30. The applicant does not appear to have any contact with his first son, but claims to be in a family environment with his second wife and their children. Following the revocation of his citizenship, the applicant’s second wife lost her exempt person status and the attached freedom-of-movement rights. II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICE A. Domestic law 1. The Constitution 31. Article 44 of the Maltese Constitution concerns the right to freedom of movement. Its sub-articles 1 and 4 read as follows: “(1) No citizen of Malta shall be deprived of his freedom of movement, and for the purpose of this article the said freedom means the right to move freely throughout Malta, the right to reside in any part of Malta, the right to leave and the right to enter Malta.” “(4) For the purposes of this article, any person (a) who has emigrated from Malta (whether before, on or after the appointed day) and, having been a citizen of Malta by virtue of article 3(1) or of article 5(1) of the