Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
May 1996
Ausiello v. Italy - 20331/92
Judgment 21.5.1996
Article 6
Administrative proceedings
Article 6-1
Reasonable time
Length of proceedings in the Court of Audit: violation
[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]
I.ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION ("reasonable time")
A.Period to be considered
Starting-point: service of writ at Ministry of Finance.
End: deposit of Court of Audit's judgment in its registry.
Total: just under six years and two months, including time that elapsed between service of writ and communication of that writ to Court of Audit.
B.Applicable criteria
Conduct of relevant authorities: period of inactivity of more than two years – Government had provided no valid explanation – Court of Audit followed established case-law on military pensions in dismissing applicant's actions – nothing suggested questions raised were complex – delay depositing text of judgment with registry.
Applicant's conduct: in view of "uncertainty how the law stood" alleged by Government, no reason to believe that any steps taken to expedite consideration of case would have had desired effect.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
II.ARTICLE 50 OF THE CONVENTION
Non-pecuniary damage: finding of violation sufficient compensation.
Pecuniary damage: existence and causal connection with alleged violation not proved.
Conclusion: claims dismissed (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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