FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF AGRACHEVA AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE
(Applications nos. 11109/09 and 3 others -
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
6 December 2018
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Agracheva and Others v. Ukraine,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Síofra O’Leary, President,
Mārtiņš Mits,
Lado Chanturia, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 15 November 2018,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in applications against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. Notice of the applications was given to the Ukrainian Government (“the Government”).
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the excessive length of civil proceedings and of the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law.
THE LAW
I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
II. THE LOCUS STANDI OF MS Natalya Viktorovna Mutyeva
6. As concerns the complaints raised by the applicant in application no. 11109/09, the Court notes that the applicant died on 29 November 2011, while the case was pending before the Court. The applicant’s daughter, Ms Natalya Viktorovna Mutyeva, has requested to pursue the application on her mother’s behalf. As the request is in line with its case-law, the Court sees no reason to refuse it (see, among other authorities, Petr Korolev v. Russia, no. 38112/04, §§ 43-45, 21 October 2010). However, reference will still be made to the applicant throughout the present text.
III. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 AND ARTICLE 13 OF THE CONVENTION
7. The applicants complained that the length of the civil proceedings in question had been incompatible with the “reasonable time” requirement and that they had no effective remedy in this connection. They relied on Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention, which read as follows:
Article 6 § 1
“In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a ... hearing within a reasonable time by [a] ... tribunal ...”
Article 13
“Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in [the] Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity.”
8. The Court reiterates that the reasonableness of the length of proceedings must be assessed in the light of the circumstances of the case and with reference to the following criteria: the complexity of the case, the conduct of the applicants and the relevant authorities and what was at stake for the applicants in the dispute (see Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII).
9. In the leading case of Krasnoshapka v. Ukraine, (no. 23786/02, 30 November 2006), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
10. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the length of the proceedings was excessive and failed to meet the “reasonable time” requirement.
11. The Court further notes that the applicants did not have at their disposal an effective remedy in respect of these complaints.
12. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 and of Article 13 of the Convention.
IV. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
13. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”
14. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Krasnoshapka v. Ukraine, cited above, §§ 61 and 66), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
15. The Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
1. Decides to join the applications;
2. Decides that Ms Mutyeva, the daughter of the applicant in application no. 11109/09, has locus standi in the proceedings;
3. Declares the applications admissible;
4. Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings;
5. Holds
(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted, except for application no. 11109/09, into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;
(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 6 December 2018, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv TigerstedtSíofra O’Leary
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention
(excessive length of civil proceedings and lack of any effective remedy in domestic law)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Representative’s name and location
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length Levels of jurisdiction
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1]
11109/09
05/02/2009
Nadezhda Konstantinovna Agracheva
07/01/1948
The applicant died on 29/11/2011.
Ms Natalya Viktorovna Mutyeva has the quality of heir
Sergiy Anatoliyovych Zayets
Irpin
01/05/1999
10/01/2013
16/03/2012
05/08/2013
12 years, 10 months and 16 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
6 months and 27 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
5,500
57084/17
25/07/2017
Aleksandr Kirillovich Gvozdetskiy
01/09/1930
Vitaliy Georgiyevich Petkov
Odesa
20/11/2006
28/03/2017
17/08/2016
30/06/2017
9 years, 8 month and 29 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
3 months and 3 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
1,700
5830/18
29/12/2017
Volodymyr Georgiyovych Zayichenko
19/08/1956
01/04/2012
pending
More than 6 years, 6 months and 8 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
1,200
9741/18
16/02/2018
Alla Oleksiyivna Podkorytova
19/05/1937
Denys Sergiyovych Kucherenko
Zaporizhzhya
23/04/2005
pending
More than 13 years, 5 months and 16 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
4,200
[1]. Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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