FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 9041/07
by Vladimir GRABUSOV and Others
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 6 March 2008 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Nina Vajić,
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Dean Spielmann,
Sverre Erik Jebens, judges,
and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 2 December 2003,
Having regard to the decision to apply Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and examine the admissibility and merits of the case together,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants named below are Russian nationals. They live in Velikie Luki. The Government were represented before the Court by Mrs V. Milinchuk, Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
The applicants are teachers at municipal secondary school no. 9 in Velikie Luki. By virtue of section 55 § 8 of the Education Act, they were entitled to a monthly allowance for purchase of books and magazines (компенсация за книгоиздательскую продукцию и периодические издания) which had not been paid to them from 1996 to 1999.
The applicants applied to a court seeking recovery of the unpaid allowance.
On 24 March 2003 the Justice of the Peace of Court Circuit no. 33 of Velikie Luki in the Pskov Region granted the applicants’ claim for the unpaid allowance and held that the Education Directorate of the Velikie Luki Town Council should reimburse them the following amounts:660.33 Russian roubles (“RUR”) to Mr Vladimir Mikhalovich Grabusov,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Marina Igorevna Lyashkevich,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Tatyana Mikhaylovna Mikhaylova,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Valentina Gennadyevna Semenova,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Yelena Yuryevna Savinkova,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Svetlana Gennadyevna Rogoleva,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Olga Grigoryevna Godina,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Olga Nikolayevna Solovyeva,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Natalya Mikhaylovna Koroleva,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Larisa Mikhaylovna Menshikova,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Lyudmila Gennadyevna Zamorova,RUR 3,751.99 to Mr Vasiliy Vladimirovich Zinovyev,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Galina Nikolayevna Andreyeva,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Svetlana Vladimirovna Kirpichnikova,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Lilia Aleksandrovna Kuzmina,RUR 3,751.99 to Mrs Anna Borisovna Koposova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Galina Yakovlevna Belyayeva,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Yevgeniya Ivanovna Dunaykina,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Galina Vladimirovna Matveyeva,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Valentina Mikhaylovna Uglichinina,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Svetlana Vitalyevna Drobkova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mr Viktor Petrovich Atrakhimovich,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Lyudmila Pavlovna Tinkovich,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Lyubov Grigoryevna Timofeyeva,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Tatyana Leonidovna Fedorova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mr Vladimir Leonidovich Sergeyev,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Tatyana Sergeyevna Savenkova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Natalya Nikolayevna Novikova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Inessa Fedorovna Popova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Svetlana Dmitiryevna Kirillova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Natalya Nikolayevna Putintseva,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Irina Nikolayevna Koposova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Irina Pavlovna Kozlova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Nina Nikolayevna Syroyed,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Tamara Yakovlevna Khodakova,RUR 3,081.54 to MrsYelena Nikolayevna Danshova,RUR 3,081.54 to Mrs Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Grabusova,RUR 2,337.72 to Mr Andrey Aleksandrovich Rodionov,RUR 2,337.72 to Mrs Lyudmila Pavlovna Rudakova, andRUR 2,899.38 to Mrs Antonina Stepanovna Bystrova.
On 20 May 2003 the Velikie Luki Town Court of the Pskov Region upheld that judgment on appeal.
By identically worded individual letters of various dates between 23 October and 19 November 2007, all the applicants informed the Court that the judgment had been enforced in April 2004 and that they did not intend to pursue their application before the Court.
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about non-enforcement of the judgment in their favour.
The applicants complained under the same provisions that the domestic courts wrongly dismissed their claim for compensation.
THE LAW
The Court recalls Article 37 of the Convention which, in the relevant part, reads as follows:
“1. The Court may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that
(a) the applicant does not intend to pursue his application;
...
However, the Court shall continue the examination of the application if respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto so requires.”
It follows from the applicants’ letters that they do not intend to pursue their application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. The Court notes that the judgment in their favour has already been enforced. It therefore considers that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols does not require it to continue the examination of their complaints. In view of the above, it is appropriate to discontinue the application of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and to strike the case out of the list of cases.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Søren Nielsen Christos Rozakis
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy