FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 46327/16
Ioan FĂȚAN
against Romania
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 9 December 2021 as a Committee composed of:
Armen Harutyunyan, President,
Jolien Schukking,
Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 27 December 2016,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Mr Ioan Fățan, was born in 1947.
On 3 December 2020 the Court delivered a decision in a group of cases, which included the current application (see Mircea and Others v. Romania, (dec.) [Committee], nos. 19480/16 and 4 other applications), and decided to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention on the basis of a unilateral declaration submitted by the Romanian Government (“the Government”), acknowledging a violation of Article 3 of the Convention due to the applicant’s inadequate conditions of detention and awarding him 2,700 euros (EUR) in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses.
On 13 April 2021 the Government made a request to restore the application to the Court’s list of cases, as during the enforcement of the Court’s decision, they had learned that the applicant had died on 8 January 2019 and no heir had manifested an intention to pursue the proceedings before the Court in the applicant’s place.
On 20 May 2021 the Court decided, under Rule 43 § 5 of the Rules of the Court, to disjoin the current application from those to which it had been joined (see above) and to restore it to its list of cases, considering the fact of the applicant’s death.
By letters dated 25 May and 27 August 2021, sent by registered post, the applicant’s potential heirs were notified that the application had been restored to the Court’s list of cases. They were invited, in particular, to inform the Court whether they wished to pursue the application before the Court. They were asked to provide that information by 6 July 2021, a time‑limit which was subsequently extended to 24 September 2021. Their attention was 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 they do not intend to pursue the application.
The letters were delivered to the applicant’s potential heirs on 15 June and 8 September 2021. No reply was received by the Court to date.
THE LAW
In the light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the applicant’s potential heirs do not wish to pursue the application within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention.
Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Done in English and notified in writing on 13 January 2022.
Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan
Acting Deputy Registrar President