Factsheet – Deprivation of citizenship The Court firstly noted that the decision terminating the applicant’s citizenship had left him without any valid identity document, creating general uncertainty as regards his legal status as an individual and directly affecting his social identity. It therefore amounted to an interference with the applicant’s right to respect for private life under Article 8. In keeping with its case-law, the Court’s duty was therefore to determine whether that interference had been arbitrary or not – that is to say whether it was legal, whether the applicant had had an opportunity to challenge the decision, and whether the authorities had acted diligently and swiftly. In the present case, the Court noted in particular that the national authorities had given no heed to the fact that the termination of the applicant’s citizenship, rendering him stateless, would be in breach of Azerbaijan’s international law obligations. Also, since the applicant had not been able to contest the decision to terminate his citizenship before the national courts, he had not benefited from the necessary procedural safeguards. Therefore, the Court found that the decision to terminate the applicant’s citizenship had been arbitrary and had violated Article 8 of the Convention. Pending applications El Aroud v. Belgium (no. 25491/18) and B.S. v. Belgium (no. 27629/18) Applications communicated to the Belgian Government on 5 November 2018 This case concerns the removal of the applicants’ Belgian nationality following their conviction for acts related to terrorism. The applicants complain in particular that they were deprived of two levels of jurisdiction relating to the decision to strip them of their citizenship. The Court gave notice of the applications to the Belgian Government and put questions to the parties under Article 2 (right of appeal in criminal matters) of Protocol No. 7 to the Convention and under Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial within a reasonable time) and Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the Convention. Benahmed v. France (no. 25203/22) Application communicated to the French Government on 22 May 2023 This case concerns the removal of the applicant’s French nationality following his conviction for acts related to terrorism. The Court gave notice of the application to the French Government and put questions to the parties under Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the Convention. Media Contact: Tel.: +33 (0)3 90 21 42 08 4