ANATOLIY MARINOV v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT in all pending and future cases in which he had been appointed to personally act as their representative (Rule 36 § 4 (a) in fine of the Rules of Court). 3. The Government were represented by their Agent, Ms I. Stancheva-Chinova of the Ministry of Justice. 4. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 5. In his initial application, the applicant submitted that in 1999, he had been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders; the Government have not disputed those facts. On the basis of that diagnosis, on 12 May 2000 the Sliven Regional Court had placed him under partial guardianship. That measure had attracted, among other restrictions, the application of Article 42 § 1 of the Constitution (see paragraph 13 below) to the applicant, excluding him from the right to vote. The underlying court decision had held that the applicant’s health condition did not allow him to take good care of himself and that he was occasionally aggressive, but that the situation was not too serious. 6. Furthermore, the following facts have been submitted by the Government in their observations, as well as by the applicant in reply, in respect of the present proceedings. 7. On 4 November 2015, the applicant lodged an application with the Ruse Regional Court for the restoration of his legal capacity, through the services of a lawyer authorised by him and his guardian. In the proceedings that followed, on 15 February 2016 the court noted that the application had been lodged by the applicant’s guardian and terminated the proceedings on this ground. According to the applicable law, the applicant could only be a respondent in such proceedings; therefore, the guardian should have submitted an address for the applicant, in order that he might be summoned in that capacity. As no such address was submitted to the court, the proceedings could not continue. Following an appeal by the applicant, on 4 May 2016 the Veliko Tarnovo Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance court’s decision. 8. On 19 May 2016, the applicant lodged a request for leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Cassation, arguing that he had been denied free and direct access to a court, in contravention of the Convention. The Supreme Court of Cassation quashed the decision because the proceedings in question had been terminated, and remitted the case to the Ruse Regional Court for those proceedings to be reopened. 9. On 19 October 2016, Ruse Regional Court terminated the proceedings again, reasoning that the applicant’s guardian, considered as a claimant, had failed to comply with the court’s instructions to specify the respondent in the case and to provide an address at which he could be summoned. 10. On 24 January 2017, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria scheduled parliamentary elections, to be held on 26 March 2017. The applicant was unable to participate, owing to the fact that he had been declared legally incapable. 2