FIFTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 37734/07
Vadym Ivanovych MARKOV and Olena Glibivna MARKOVA
against Ukraine
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 13 October 2015 as a Committee composed of:
André Potocki, President,
Ganna Yudkivska,
Síofra O’Leary, judges,
and Milan Blaško, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 20 August 2007 and on 8 September 2014,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicants are Mr Vadym Ivanovych Markov and Mrs Olena Glibivna Markova. Mr Markov was a Ukrainian national, who was born in 1968 and lived in Zaporizhzhya. Mrs Markova is a Ukrainian national, who was born in 1961 and lives in Zaporizhzhya.
On 5 October 1995 a district court ordered divorce between Mr Markov and his first wife X. This decision became final on 16 October 1995. For unknown reasons Mr Markov did not register the divorce, as national law required, with the Office for Registration of Civil Acts (“the Office”) and did not ask that authority to give him his divorce certificate.
In March 2003 a district court convicted Mr Markov of a criminal offence and ordered his imprisonment until 5 March 2014. His conviction and sentence became final and he was sent to a prison to serve his sentence.
In 2005 Mr Markov decided to marry Ms Bespalova. However, according to national law, his marriage with her could be officially registered only after registration of his divorce with X.
In March 2005 Mr Markov asked the Office to register his divorce and to give him a divorce certificate. The Office refused stating that this could be done only if Mr Markov arrived to the Office in person. Mr Markov asked the Ministry of Justice and the State Penitentiary Service to provide him with an opportunity to register his divorce.
On 20 July 2005 the Ministry of Justice informed Mr Markov that, according to national law, the Office could only register his divorce after his release from prison.
In his application lodged with the Court on 20 August 2007, Mr Markov complained, invoking Articles 6, 12, 13 and 17 of the Convention, that the State did not allow him to register his divorce and to remarry while in prison.
On 13 August 2014 the Registry sent a letter to Mr Markov requesting information concerning any new developments in his case.
By a letter of 8 September 2014 Mrs Markova (née Bespalova) informed the Registry, without providing further details, that on 22 January 2009 Mr Markov had duly registered his divorce, had received his divorce certificate and had married her on 23 February 2009. In 2012 Mr Markov was released from prison and on 16 December 2013 he died. Mrs Markova expressed her wish to pursue the application on behalf of Mr Markov. She complained that the fact that he could not marry her had interfered with her own rights under the Convention.
THE LAW
The Court reiterates that although a right to divorce cannot be derived from the Convention, if national legislation allows divorce, it secures for divorced persons the right to remarry without unreasonable restrictions (see V.K. v. Croatia, no. 38380/08, § 99, 27 November 2012).
The Court considers that the right to remarry is of eminently personal nature and belongs to the category of non-transferable rights. Consequently, Mrs Markova lacks the necessary locus standi to pursue the application on behalf of Mr Markov. The Court finds no general interest to continue the examination of the complaints lodged by the initial applicant, Mr Vadym Ivanovych Markov, and considers, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention, that it is no longer justified to continue examination of his complaints following his decease.
The Court accepts that the authorities’ refusal to register Mr Markov’s divorce was susceptible of interfering with Mrs Markova’s right to marry him. However, she raised her complaint in this respect before the Court only on 8 September 2014, that is more than six months after the date on which Mr Markov had registered his divorce and married her and several years after the authorities refused to register his divorce. Her complaint was thus lodged too late and must be rejected pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in so far as it concerns the complaints lodged by Mr Vadym Ivanovych Markov;
Decides to declare inadmissible the complaint lodged by Mrs Olena Glibivna Markova on 8 September 2014.
Done in English and notified in writing on 5 November 2015.
Milan BlaškoAndré Potocki
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy