BUCHAREST: In Romania, birthplace of the world’s most famous member of the living dead, Dracula, turning up in front of a judge may not be enough to prove you are alive.

Constantin Reliu, from the eastern town of Barlad, learnt this the hard way last week: a court rejected his request for the annulment of a death certificate which was issued in his name in 2016, according to a judgement seen on the court’s website on Friday.

The reason for the court’s decision has not been confirmed, but according to Romanian media it was due to the deadline for changes to the certificate having passed. Reliu left the country in the early 1990s to work in Turkey and returned to Romania in January of this year.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018