A court in the northern city of Iasi on Thursday confirmed that Valerian Vasiliu should have his license returned and be reimbursed a fine he paid for speeding. Vasiliu was fined and temporarily lost his license in March 2017, but appealed the punishment in court and won an interim ruling.

He died in October, before the ruling was final. Police still appealed, but this month lost their appeal.

Local lawyer Gianina Porosnicu, a traffic law specialist, told the Mediafax agency that “cases like this may seem odd or even sinister,” and blamed “a legal void.”

In an almost opposite situation last week, a Romanian man who had been officially declared dead lost his bid to have his death certificate canceled.

Constantin Reliu, a 63-year-old cook, returned from Turkey in January and found out that his wife had declared him dead. Reliu tried to get his death certificate overturned in court, but his appeal was rejected because his request was filed “too late.” CC