Communicated on 27 May 2015
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 66327/13
Oleksandr Mykhaylovych KHOROSHEV
against Ukraine
lodged on 7 October 2013
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Oleksandr Mykhaylovych Khoroshev, is a Ukrainian national, who was born in 1939 and lives in Vinnytsya.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 14 June 2011 the Leninskyy District Court of Vinnytsia allowed the applicant’s claim against the local department of the Pension Fund. As a result, it recalculated and increased his pension with immediate effect. The case was examined in summary proceedings (by a single judge and without a hearing).
On 28 May 2013 the Vinnytsia Administrative Court of Appeal quashed the above decision upon the Pension Fund’s appeal and delivered a new one rejecting the applicant’s claim. Given the summary nature of the proceedings, the ruling of the appellate court was final and not amenable to an appeal on points of law.
The applicant was not aware of the appellate proceedings until 4 July 2013 when the Pension Fund sent him the appellate court’s ruling and informed him that his pension was to be decreased.
The applicant attempted to appeal on points of law, but without success.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 6 of the Convention that the domestic civil proceedings in his case were unfair. He submits, in particular, that the appellate court adjudicated on the adversary party’s appeal without his knowledge of that appeal and thus in breach of the principle of the equality of arms.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of his civil rights and obligations, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
In particular, was the principle of equality of arms respected as regards the applicant’s unawareness of the appellate proceedings and his inability to comment on the arguments of the adversary party’s appeal?
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy