FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 50851/21
Olga Ivanivna GRUSHKO
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 20 November 2025 as a Committee composed of:
Faris Vehabović, President,
Lorraine Schembri Orland,
Anne Louise Bormann, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 1 October 2021,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Ms Olga Ivanivna Grushko, was born in 1957.
The applicant was represented by Mr A.V. Yakovlev, a lawyer practising in Kyiv.
The applicant’s complaints under Article 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 thereto concerning the requirement for her, as a Ukrainian national, to dispose of her title to a land plot in Crimea, as imposed by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 201 of 20 March 2020 (“the Decree No. 201”), were communicated to the Russian Government, who did not submit their observations. On 27 November 2023 the applicant was required to submit her own observations, together with any claims for just satisfaction.
On 15 March 2024 her representative informed the Registry that the applicant had died on 1 November 2022; he also provided a phone number of the applicant’s daughter, indicating that she had refused to communicate with him. The Registry’s attempts to contact her, the last of which took place on 18 June 2024, were futile.
On 4 July 2024 the Court sent by registered post a letter to the applicant’s address to notify her potential heirs that the time allowed for the submission of the applicant’s observations had expired. Their 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.
No reply to this letter has been received by the Court and the letter itself was returned to the Court undelivered.
By a letter of 14 November 2024, the applicant’s representative, relying on Article 37 § 1 in fine, invited the Court to continue the examination of her application due to respect for human rights as defined by the Convention and Protocols thereto, with regard to the particular matter at stake (application of the Decree No. 201).
THE LAW
Firstly, and in the light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the applicant’s heir does not wish to pursue the application within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention.
Secondly, as regards the existence of special circumstances that would require the continued examination of the application, the Court notes that it was communicated with ten other applications concerning various legal issues stemming from the application of Decree No. 201. Moreover, the applicants in nine of those applications are also represented by Mr Yakovlev, the applicant’s lawyer. The Court therefore considers that there are no special circumstances for the continued examination of the present application.
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 11 December 2025.
Viktoriya Maradudina Faris Vehabović
Acting Deputy Registrar President