EVANS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM - 6339/05

Mr C.L. Rozakis, President , Mr J.-P. Costa, Sir Nicolas Bratza, Mr B.M. Zupančič, Mr P. Lorenzen, Mr R. Türmen, Mr V. Butkevych, Mrs N. Vajić, Mrs M. Tsatsa-Nikolovska, Mr A.B. Baka, Mr A. Kovler, Mr V. Zagrebelsky, Mrs A. Mularoni, Mr D. Spielmann, Mrs R. Jaeger, Mr David Thór Björgvinsson, Mrs I. Ziemele, Judges , and Mr E. Fribergh, Registrar .

The case originated in an application (no. 6339/05) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a British national, Ms Natallie Evans (“the applicant”), on 11 February 2005.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Mr M. Lyons, a lawyer practising in London. The British Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Ms Emily Willmott and Ms Kate McCleery, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The applicant complained under Articles 2, 8 and 14 of the Convention that domestic law permitted her former partner effectively to withdraw his consent to the storage and use by her of embryos created jointly by them.

The application was allocated to the Fourth Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.