FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Applications nos. 59264/16 and 72817/16
Iulian-Marius COJOCARU against Romania
and Dorin ISTRATE against Romania
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 4 May 2023 as a Committee composed of:
Tim Eicke, President,
Branko Lubarda,
Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the inadequate conditions of detention were communicated to the Romanian Government (see the appended table for the relevant dates), the friendly settlement procedure being set in motion through the offices of the Registrar upon communication.
As no reply was received by the Court from the applicants within the provided deadline, the Government submitted unilateral declarations with a view to resolving the issues raised by these complaints. Still no reply was received by the Court from the applicants within the newly provided deadline.
By letters sent by registered post, the applicants were notified that the Court received no response within the time allowed for the submission of their response and that they were provided with a new deadline for submitting a response (see the appended table for the relevant dates). The applicants’ attention was further drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application.
The registered letters either returned to the Court as unclaimed or were received by the applicants (see details in the appended table). No reply to the letters has been received by the Court and there are no previous letters from the applicants informing the Court about the change of address. All the applicants had been released from prison several years before the date of this decision, and the most recent correspondence from them dates back several years as well (see the appended table for the relevant dates).
THE LAW
Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
In the light of the foregoing, in the absence of any correspondence from the applicants for several years and considering that, following the communication of the applications to the Government, no reply was received from the applicants, the Court concludes that the applicants may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue the applications (Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention). Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto which require the continued examination of the applications.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Done in English and notified in writing on 25 May 2023.
Viktoriya Maradudina Tim Eicke
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(inadequate conditions of detention)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Date of the
applicant’s
last letter to the
Court
Date of sending
the Government’s
submissions to
the applicant
Date of the
Court’s
registered letter
Date of receipt/return
of the registered letter
Time-limit for submitting
response by the applicant
Date of the applicant’s
release from prison
59264/16
31/10/2016
Iulian-Marius COJOCARU
1990
26/01/2021
02/02/2022
25/03/2022
04/04/2022
Handed over to the applicant
22/04/2022
12/07/2017
72817/16
23/11/2016
Dorin ISTRATE
1977
08/03/2021
02/02/2022
25/03/2022
24/05/2022
Returned as unclaimed
22/04/2022
30/08/2016