SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 39470/08
Vinkica BAUMGARTNER against Serbia
and 3 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on
13 November 2012 as a Committee composed of:
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, President,
Dragoljub Popović,
Helen Keller, judges,
and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the applications below (see the appended table) lodged between 31 July 2008 and 6 August 2008,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants are Serbian nationals (for additional personal details see the appended table). They were represented before the Court by
Mr T. Stojanović, a lawyer practising in Belgrade. The Serbian Government (”the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr S. Carić.
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the flagrantly inconsistent case-law of the District Court in Belgrade in the period between the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 concerning the claims for the payment of increased salaries for the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia residing and working in Kosovo.[1]
Between 21 December 2011 and 12 April 2012 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Serbia in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications against an undertaking by the Government to pay each of them the amount of EUR 3,255 (three thousand two hundred fifty five euros) to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be converted into local currency at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. This sum will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. 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 considers that, in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications should be joined, given their similar factual and legal background.
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 applications.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list pursuant to Article 39 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Françoise Elens-PassosPaulo Pinto de Albuquerque
Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
No.
Application
no.
Lodged on
Applicant name
date of birth
place of residence
39470/08
31/07/2008
Vinkica BAUMGARTNER
1963
Gračanica
39474/08
06/08/2008
Vesna ĐEKIĆ
1970
Gračanica
39477/08
01/08/2008
Siniša GLIGORIJEVIĆ
1970
Lipljan
39487/08
31/07/2008
Nataša ĐURINAC
1963
Gračanica
[1] All reference to Kosovo, whether to territory, institutions or population, in this decision, shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.
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