FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Dimitar Ivanov FRENKOV against Bulgaria
and 8 other applications
(see table appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 20 March 2012 as a Committee composed of:
George Nicolaou, President,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva,
Vincent A. De Gaetano, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the applications listed in the table below,
Having regard to the pilot judgment in the case of Finger v. Bulgaria, no. 37346/05, § 135, 10 May 2011,
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 table below. Some of the applicants were legally represented. The legal representatives involved were Mr M. Ekimdjiev, Ms G. Chernicherska, Mr D. Mitkov, Ms S. Vasileva, Ms S. Lyubenova‑Neykova, Ms V. Koeva, Mr Y. Georgiev, Ms Katina Boncheva and Mr V. Stoyanov. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Dimova, 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 attached table.
On 8 August 2011 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 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention concerning the lack of effective remedies in relation to the length and the impact of the length of the proceedings on property rights.
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 ex gratia sums, which would cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, as well as costs and expenses, and would be free of any taxes that may be applicable, to be converted into the national currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement. 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. This payment 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 reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). 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.
Fatoş AracıGeorge Nicolaou
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.
7100/07
14/01/2007
Dimitar Ivanov FRENKOV
1956
Plovdiv
1) 14/08/1998 – 12/12/2006 (the date on which the judgment of 07/11/2006 entered into force)
2) 27/10/1998 – 14/07/2006
1) Civil proceedings for damages resulting from an alleged occupational disease
2) Administrative proceedings on appeal of the medical authorities’ decision in relation to the alleged occupational disease
1) 8 years and 3 months (1 level of jurisdiction; these proceedings were stayed for several years waiting the outcome of the second proceedings)
2) 7 years and 8 months (2 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
28 September 2011
2 February 2012
4,500
2.
7741/07
05/01/2007
Yordanka Ilieva HRISTOVA
1923
Sofia
1) First set of proceedings
05/04/1993 – 05/07/2006
2) Second set of proceedings
26/08/1997 – 05/07/2007
Restitution and rei-vindicatio proceedings
13 years and 3 months for the first set of proceedings (3 levels of jurisdiction)
9 years and 10 months for the second set of proceedings (3 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1 (impact of length on property rights)
12 October 2011
2 February 2012
7,700
3.
7815/07
08/02/2007
Lyuben Petrov PETKOV
1936
Sofia
19/09/2000 – 08/08/2006
Labour dispute
5 years and 10 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
31 October 2011
2 February 2012
1,500
4.
12591/07
26/02/2007
Vasil Strahilov NESHEV
1946
Pernik
21/03/2000 – 31/08/2006
Labour dispute
6 years and 5 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
22 August 2011
2 February 2012
1,500
5.
12716/07
16/02/2007
Todor Stefanov TANGALOV
1961
Veliko Tarnovo
29/02/2000 – 24/10/2007
Labour dispute
7 years and 10 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
2 September 2011
2 February 2012
2,500
6.
16855/07
21/12/2006
Mariyka Kirilova BLASKOVA
1941
Varna
Violeta Alexandrova BLASKOVA
1968
Varna
16/04/1999 –
28/10/2008
Proceedings for compensation for a property that could not be denationalised
9 years and 6 months (2 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1 (impact of length on property rights)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
27 September 2011
2 February 2012
4,800
7.
17555/07
27/03/2007
TOTEL OOD
Sofia
01/08/1997 –
1) Phase of opening of bankruptcy proceedings –01/11/2004
2) Phase of declaring the applicant company bankrupt –
29/09/2006
Bankruptcy proceedings
9 years and 2 months (3 levels of jurisdiction for the opening of bankruptcy proceedings and 2 levels of jurisdiction for declaring the applicant company bankrupt)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1 (impact of length on property rights)
30 September 2011
2 February 2012
1,800
8.
17777/07
27/03/2007
Teodora Ivanova SOTIROVA
1950
Plovdiv
Nedyalka Petrova IVANOVA
1927
Plovdiv
Mariyana Ivanova UNGER
Plovdiv
01/06/1993 – 07/11/2006
Rei-vindicatio proceedings
13 years and 5 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
24 October 2011
2 February 2012
6,500
9.
17856/07
14/12/2006
Yordan Nikolov KANCHEV
1961
Pazardzhik
7/12/2000 –
15/09/2006
Labour dispute
5 years and 9 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
21 September 2011
2 February 2012
1,100
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy