THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 41191/13
Cornelia HARAP
against Romania
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 21 October 2014 as a Committee composed of:
Ján Šikuta, President,
Dragoljub Popović,
Iulia Antoanella Motoc, judges,
and Marialena Tsirli, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 11 June 2013,
Having regard to the declarations submitted by the respondent Government on 2 April 2014 and 10 September 2014 requesting the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases and the applicant’s heirs’ reply to those declarations,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Ms Cornelia Harap, was a Romanian national, who was born in 1932 and lived in Năsăud.
The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms C. Brumar, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of the civil proceedings in which she had been involved. The proceedings lasted for ten years and one month for three levels of jurisdiction.
On 6 November 2013, this complaint was communicated to the Government.
By a letter of 12 June 2014, the applicant’s heirs informed the Court that the applicant had died on 20 March 2014 and that they wished to pursue the application.
THE LAW
After the failure of attempts to reach a friendly settlement, by a letter of 2 April 2014 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issue raised by the application. They further requested the Court to strike out the application in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.
By a letter of 12 June 2014, the applicant’s heirs indicated that they were not satisfied with the terms of the unilateral declaration on the ground that the amount proposed was too low.
By a letter of 1 September 2014, the applicant’s heirs specified again that they were not willing to accept the Government’s unilateral declaration and requested the continuation of the proceedings.
By a letter of 10 September 2014, the Government reiterated their unilateral declaration in favour of the applicant’s heirs.
The declaration provided as follows:
“ Le Gouvernement déclare - au moyen de la présente déclaration unilatérale - qu’il reconnaît la durée excessive de la procédure interne qui fait l’objet de la présente requête devant la Cour.
Le Gouvernement déclare être prêt à verser à Mme Aurelia Harap et à M. Vasile Adrian Harap, conjointement, en qualité d’héritiers de Mme Cornelia Harap, à titre de satisfaction équitable la somme de 2 160 (deux mille cent soixante) euros, montant qu’il considère comme raisonnable au vu de la jurisprudence de la Cour.
Cette somme qui couvrira tout préjudice matériel et moral ainsi que les frais et dépens, ne sera soumise à aucun impôt. Elle sera versée en lei roumains au taux applicable à la date du paiement sur le compte bancaire indiqué par la partie requérante, dans les trois mois suivant la date de la notification de la décision de radiation du rôle adoptée par la Cour. A défaut de règlement dans ledit délai, le Gouvernement s’engage à verser, à compter de l’expiration de celui-ci et jusqu’au règlement effectif de la somme en question, un intérêt simple à un taux égal à celui de la facilité de prêt marginal de la Banque centrale européenne, augmenté de trois points de pourcentage. Ce versement vaudra règlement définitif de l’affaire. ”
The Court recalls that Article 37 of the Convention provides that it may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to one of the conclusions specified, under (a), (b) or (c) of paragraph 1 of that Article. Article 37 § 1 (c) enables the Court in particular to strike a case out of its list if:
“for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application”.
It also recalls that in certain circumstances, it may strike out an application under Article 37 § 1(c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicant wishes the examination of the case to be continued.
To this end, the Court will examine carefully the declaration in the light of the principles emerging from its case-law, in particular the Tahsin Acar judgment (Tahsin Acar v. Turkey, [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75-77, ECHR 2003-VI and Sulwińska v. Poland (dec.) no. 28953/03, 18 September 2007).
The Court has established in a number of cases, including those brought against Romania, its practice concerning complaints about the violation of one’s right to a hearing within a reasonable time (see, for example, Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII; Cocchiarella v. Italy [GC], no. 64886/01, §§ 69-98, ECHR 2006‑V; Vlad and Others v. Romania, nos. 40756/06, 41508/07 and 50806/07, § 146, 26 November 2013).
Having regard to the nature of the admissions contained in the Government’s declaration, as well as the amount of compensation proposed – which is consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases – the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1(c)).
Moreover, in light of the above considerations, and in particular given the clear and extensive case-law on the topic, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine).
Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declaration, the application could be restored to the list in accordance with Article 37 § 2 of the Convention (Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4 March 2008).
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government’s declaration under Article 6 of the Convention and of the modalities for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein;
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention.
Marialena TsirliJán Šikuta
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy