Man classified as dead losing battle vs. bureaucracy

BUCHAREST, Romania — Constantin Reliu learned in January that he was dead.

After more than 20 years of working as a cook in Turkey, the 63-year-old returned home to Romania to discover that his wife had had him officially registered as dead.

He has since been living a legalistic nightmare of trying to prove to authorities that he is alive. He faced a setback Thursday when a court in the northeastern city of Vaslui refused to overturn his death certificate because his request was filed “too late.” The decision, the court said, is final.

“I have no income and because I am listed as dead, I can’t do anything,” Reliu said in a phone interview Friday from his home in Barlad, northeastern Romania.

Reliu voiced rage and a desire for revenge against his wife, who now lives in Italy.

“I am not sure whether I am divorced or not,” he said.

Reliu explained that he first went to work in Turkey in 1992 and returned in 1995 to the first big shock of his marriage: his wife’s infidelity. In 1999, he decided to return to Turkey for good.

Last December Turkish authorities detained him over expired papers, and in January they deported him to Romania.

Upon landing at Bucharest airport, he was told by border officials that he had been declared dead and underwent six hours of questioning and tests.

After that, “They decided that it was me!” Reliu said.

Authorities in Barlad were less convinced. He spent weeks trying to persuade them to issue him papers so he officially “existed,” he said. When that failed, he asked them to overturn the ruling on his death certificate, issued in 2016, which also ended in failure Thursday on procedural grounds.

Constantin Reliu