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# Papers Please
Three days after denying an alive man's existence, Romania gives a dead man his driving licence back
The court ruled in Valerian Vasiliu’s favour but he died a few days later.
DAYS AFTER A Romanian court refused to declare a living man alive, another tribunal has ruled that a dead man can have his driving licence back.
Valerian Vasiliu appealed last March to a court in Iasi in north-eastern Romania against losing his licence after being caught speeding.
The court ruled in his favour but he died a few days later. The police, unmoved, appealed the ruling, which has however now been upheld.
Last week a court rejected the request of another man, Constantin Reliu, from the eastern town of Barlad, to have his death certificate annulled.
Reliu left the country in the early 1990s and returned in January, only to discover his family had had him declared dead, media reports said.
Without any official proof that he is alive, Reliu (63), who has no contact with his family, cannot enter employment or claim benefits.
He faces another legal process to prove with documentation that he has been alive since the certificate was issued.
