FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 20423/05
by Galina Alekseyevna KUZMINA
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 21 January 2010 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Nina Vajić,
Anatoly Kovler,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Dean Spielmann,
Sverre Erik Jebens,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 14 April 2005,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Ms Galina Alekseyevna Kuzmina, is a Russian national who was born in 1952 and lives in Svetlyy, the Sakha (Yakutiya) Republic. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr G. Matyushkin, their Representative at the European Court of Human Rights.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
On 14 May 2003 the Mirninskiy District Court of the Sakha (Yakutiya) Republic granted the applicant’s action against the authorities and awarded her 138.967 Russian roubles (RUB) against the Ministry of Finance. On 11 June 2003 the Supreme Court of the Sakha (Yakutiya) Republic (“the Supreme Court”) upheld the judgment on appeal and it became final.
On 16 December 2004 the Presidium of the Supreme Court set aside the judgments in the applicant’s favour on the supervisory review and dismissed her claims on the ground that the lower courts had failed to take into account certain provisions of the domestic law.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complained under Article 6 of the Convention about the quashing of the judgments of 14 May and 11 June 2003 and the unfairness of the related proceedings, under Article 6 of the Convention that the civil proceedings in her case had been unreasonably lengthy and under Article 13 of the Convention that she did not have effective remedies in respect of the decision of 16 December 2004.
THE LAW
By letter dated 17 April 2009 the Government’s observations were sent to the applicant, who was requested to submit any observations together with any claims for just satisfaction in reply by 19 June 2009.
By letter dated 2 October 2009, sent by registered post, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of the applicant’s observations had expired on 19 June 2009 and that no extension of time had been requested. The applicant’s attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike a case out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application.
On 2 November 2009 the letter was returned by the post office to the Court as the applicant had left her place of residence and her new address was unknown.
The applicant failed to inform the Court of her change of address or otherwise inform the Court of her whereabouts. Neither did she submit any information after 5 May 2005, date of her latest letter to the Court.
The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue her application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) 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.
Søren NielsenChristos Rozakis
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy