SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 44062/08
by Mr József BALOGH and Mrs Pálné RAFAEL
against Hungary
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 10 May 2011 as a Committee composed of:
Dragoljub Popović, President,
András Sajó,
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, judges,
and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 8 September 2008,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The applicants, Mr József Balogh and Mrs Pálné Rafael, are Hungarian nationals who were born in 1961 and 1965 respectively and live in Budapest. They were represented before the Court by Ms I. Probstner, a lawyer practising in Budapest. The Hungarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr L. Höltzl, Agent, Ministry of Public Administration and Justice.
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of criminal proceedings conducted against them.
On 14 and 24 February 2011 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Hungary in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them jointly EUR 12,800 (twelve thousand eight hundred euros) to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Hungarian forints at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. This amount will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the Convention. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.
THE LAW
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Françoise Elens-PassosDragoljub Popović
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy