Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights: A Practitioner’s Handbook b) Anonymous Applications (Article 35 § 2a) The Court will not accept anonymous applications, that is submissions that do not indicate any element enabling the Court to identify the applicant.566 Rule 47 § 1 (a) of the Rules of Court thus requires that the name, date of birth, nationality, sex, occupation, and address of the applicant be set out in the application form. The Convention organs have, for instance, rejected petitions submitted by non-governmental organizations on behalf of unidentified classes of victims, such as patients and doctors allegedly harmed by health-related legislation.567 The Court, however, applies these rules with a degree of flexibility. In Shamayev and Others v. Georgia and Russia, for instance, several individuals complaining about human rights violations in the context of an armed conflict used pseudonyms and were accepted as applicants since their “application concerned real, specific and identifiable individuals and that their complaints, relating to alleged violations of the rights guaranteed to them under the Convention, were based on actual events.”568 The public nature of the Convention proceedings entails that the Court’s decisions and judgments list the name, the year of birth, and the place of residence of the applicants. However, some applicants do not wish that their identity be disclosed to the public. In such circumstances, they may ask the Court to refer to them in public documents by their initials or by a single letter such as “X”, “Y”, “Z”, etc.569 Any such requests, however, must be supported by a statement of the reasons justifying such a departure from the rule of public access to information in proceedings before the Court. The President of the Chamber may authorise anonymity in exceptional and duly justified cases.570 Applicants should note that even where the Court grants a request for anonymity, their identities will always be disclosed to the concerned Contracting Party because the Contracting Party cannot, for obvious reasons, be expected to respond to anonymous complaints. In other words, an applicant can be anonymous vis-à-vis the general public but not vis-à-vis the other party to the complaint. 566 “Blondje” v. the Netherlands (dec.), no. 7245/09, 15 September 2009. 567 Federation of French Medical Trade Unions and the National Federation of Nurses v. France, no. 10938/84, Commission decision on the admissibility of 12 May 1986. 568 Shamayev and Others v. Georgia and Russia (dec.), no. 36378/02, 16 September 2003; Shamayev and Others v. Georgia and Russia, no. 36378/02, 12 April 2005, § 275. 569 See paragraph 8b of the Practice Direction on the “Institution of Proceedings” which can be found in Appendix No. 4. 570 Rule 47 § 4 of the Rules of Court. 150