FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 4925/08
Snezhanka Kostadinova FRENKEVA against Bulgaria
and 2 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 15 January 2013 as a Committee composed of:
David Thór Björgvinsson, President,
Vincent A. De Gaetano,
Krzysztof Wojtyczek, judges
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the appended applications, communicated as part of the grouped communication Dobreva and 11 other applications v. Bulgaria (no. 15634/05 and others),
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The applicants are Bulgarian nationals whose names and dates of birth are specified in the appended table. Some of the applicants were legally represented. The legal representatives involved were Mr M. Ekimdzhiev, Ms K. Boncheva and Mr V. Bogorov. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Kotzeva, of the Ministry of Justice.
The essential information as to the length of the proceedings in which the applicants were involved is indicated in the appended table.
On 16 May 2012 the President of the Fourth Section decided to communicate the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the length of civil proceedings and in some cases the complaints under Article 13 of the Convention concerning the lack of effective remedies in relation to the length of the proceedings.
THE LAW
The Court considers that in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications should be joined, given their common legal background.
On various dates (see table below) the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications against an undertaking by the Government to pay them sums, which will cover any and all damage, as well as costs and expenses, where applicable, plus any tax that may be chargeable, to be converted into the national currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment. The sums would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them 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. These payments would constitute the final resolution of the cases.
The Court takes note of the friendly settlements reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlements are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reason to justify a 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 in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Fatoş AracıDavid Thór Björgvinsson
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix
No.
Application no.
Lodged on
Applicant’s name, year of birth, place of residence
Beginning and end of the domestic proceedings
Subject matter of domestic proceedings
Length of proceedings and instances concerned
Communicated complaints
Date of applicant friendly settlement declaration
Date of Government’s friendly settlement declaration
Friendly settlement sums (in euros)
1.
4925/08
28/12/2007
Snezhanka Kostadinova FRENKEVA
1949
Smolyan
16/05/2003-
4/07/2007
Labour dispute
4 years and 1 month
(three levels of jurisdiction)
Pending before the SCC for 2 years and 11 months
Art. 6 § 1
(length of proceedings)
Art. 13
(lack of effective remedies in respect of length
13 June 2012
15 November 2012
1,100
2.
27363/08
18/04/2008
Hubavka Georgieva MANOLOVA
1955
Sofia
4/09/2001-
14/01/2008
Labour dispute
6 years and 4 months (three levels of jurisdiction)
Pending before the SCC for 3 years and 1 month
Art. 6 § 1
(length of proceedings)
29 June 2012
15 November 2012
800
3.
56680/08
22/10/2008
Miglena Georgieva TANCHEVA
1975
Vratsa
28/02/2002-
11/06/2008
Labour dispute
6 years and 3 months (three levels of jurisdiction)
Pending before the SCC for 3 years and 2 months
Art. 6 § 1
(length of proceedings)
15 June 2012
15 November 2012
1,300
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