A Romanian court has made the living of Constantin Reliu, 63, very difficult by pronouncing him dead. The court has rejected his claim of being alive, despite Constantin being present in the court before them. The man spent a decade in Turkey, away from his family and did not maintain any contact with them either. His wife then obtained a death certificate from the court since there was no contact, she received it in 2016. When Reliu tried to return to his family he understood that he has been declared dead! And now to his disappointment his presence too is not enough to prove he's alive.

“I am officially dead, although I’m alive,” Reliu told local media outlets. “I have no source of income, and because of the fact that I am dead I cannot hire a lawyer. In fact I can't do anything in this country," he was quoted. Reliu left Romania in 1992 to work in Turkey. The court has rejected his appeal of being alive. Romanian daily Adevarul said that his wife having heard nothing from him in so many years, assumed he would be dead in the earthquake in Turkey. While now Reliu says she sought the death certificate to annul the marriage and it would allow her to remarry.

While that maybe the case, it certainly does not allow him to be alive! "The length of time that the defendant had not contacted his family, but also the fact that he last entered from Turkey was on July 8 1999 made credible the claim by the spouse of Constantin Reliu that he had died in unknown circumstances," the court said as it dismissed his appeal. The appeal is now final. A spokeswoman for the court told local media that the man, Constantin Reliu, 63, lost his case in the northeast city of Vasului because he had appealed too late. So Constantin Reliu is the case of the living dead, quiet literally?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 17, 2018 02:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).