Poor guy (Picture: AFP)

If you think you’re having a bad day, just wait until you read this.

Constantin Reliu, 63, had the shock of his life when he was told that he was, in actual fact, dead.

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His wife had registered his death in 2016 after he didn’t return to Romania from Turkey, where he had worked as a chef for more than 20 years.

He has since been living a legalistic nightmare of trying to prove to authorities that he is alive.


He faced a major setback on Thursday when a court in the northeastern city of Vaslui refused to overturn his death certificate because his request was filed ‘too late.’

Dead man walking? (Picture: AP)

The decision, the court said, is final.



‘I am a living ghost,’ Reliu said.

‘I am officially dead, although I’m alive. I have no income and because I am listed as dead, I can’t do anything.’

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

He said: ‘I am not sure whether I am divorced or not. I am not sure whether she is married to someone else or not. Nobody will tell me.’

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 had cheated on him.

In 1999, he decided to return to Turkey for good.

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

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

They measured the distance between his eyes to see if it corresponded to an old passport photograph; they asked him questions about his home town, such as where the town hall was and they checked his fingerprints.

But authorities in his hometown of Barlad were less convinced.

He spent weeks trying to persuade them to issue him papers so that he officially existed.

Reliu said he would like to file a fresh lawsuit but has no money and suffers from diabetes, which makes everything more difficult.

He also said he has been banned for life from returning to Turkey but would like to write to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to appeal the decision.

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