FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 18462/08
by Oleg Leopoldovich GUROK
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 14 April 2009 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Dean Spielmann,
Sverre Erik Jebens,
Giorgio Malinverni,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 8 February 2008,
Having regard to the decision to grant priority to the above application under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr Oleg Leopoldovich Gurok, is an Israeli national who was born in 1930 and lived in Bat-Yam. He was represented before the Court by Mr R.A. Zarbeyev, a lawyer practising in St Petersburg. The Russian Government (“the Government”) are represented by their Agent, Mr G. Matyushkin, the Representative of the Russian Federation at the Court.
The applicant emigrated to Israel from the USSR in 1980-90s. Before immigration he was receiving old-age pensions from the Soviet authorities. However, once the applicant left the USSR, the payments were discontinued in accordance with the USSR pension law applied at the material time. As he left the USSR prior to its collapse, he was not entitled to a pension under the new Russian legislation.
The applicant brought civil proceedings against the Pension Fund requesting restoration of the payments. The courts found for the applicant. The final decision on the matter was taken by the St Petersburg City Court on 26 February 2006.
Following the request lodged by the Russian pension authorities, the final judgment was quashed by way of supervisory review. Upon a new examination the applicants' claims were rejected.
COMPLAINTS
1. The applicant complained under Article 6 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention about the quashing of the final judgments in his favour.
2. Under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and Article 14 of the Convention the applicant complained that he had been unlawfully deprived of his pension and that this deprivation had occurred on political grounds as he had left USSR for a “capitalist country”, while citizens who left for a “socialist country” retained the payments. The applicant also complained about the discrimination on the ground of their Israeli citizenship.
THE LAW
By letter dated 24 October 2008 the Government's observations were sent to the applicant's representative, who was requested to submit any observations together with any claims for just satisfaction in reply by 23 December 2008.
On 22 December 2008 the applicant's representative informed the Court that the applicant had died. He also asked the Court to strike this case out of the list of cases pending before the Court.
The Court takes note of the fact that the applicant died and that no member of his family or heir has expressed a wish to continue the proceedings before the Court in his stead. In these circumstances the Court concludes that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
André WampachChristos Rozakis
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy