FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 43624/13
Angela ȚINTARU against Romania
and 37 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 21 June 2016 as a Committee composed of:
Vincent A. De Gaetano, President,
Egidijus Kūris,
Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, judges,
and Andrea Tamietti, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They were represented by Mr I. Matei, a lawyer practising in Bucharest.
The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms C. Brumar, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, are similar to those in Șandru and Others v. Romania (no. 22465/03, §§ 6-47, 8 December 2009), having the same historical context, namely the 1989 events in Timișoara. Most of them relate to the same domestic criminal proceedings finalized by a decision of 3 April 2007, final on 15 October 2008 and drafted on 12 January 2009 with the exception of applications nos. 24111/14 and 24244/14 in which the investigations were concluded by a decision of 9 December 1991, final on 6 June 1997.
The circumstances in which the applicants in the present case were shot and those in which their close relatives were killed have not been investigated in case file no. 11/P/2014 (97/P/1990) which is still pending at the domestic level (see Association “21 December 1989” and Others v. Romania, nos. 33810/07 and 18817/08, 24 May 2011 and Elena Apostol and Others v. Romania, nos. 24093/14 and 16 others, 23 February 2016).
B. Relevant domestic law
The applicable legal provisions are detailed in Șandru and Others (cited above, § 48) and Association “21 December 1989” and Others (cited above, §§ 95-100).
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complained under Article 2 of the Convention about the respondent State’s failure to conduct an effective, impartial and thorough investigation into the 1989 events. They further relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention to complain about the length of the criminal investigations into the events of December 1989, and on Article 13 to complain of the lack of an effective remedy in respect of the determination of their claims.
THE LAW
The applicants’ complaints relate to the domestic authorities’ failure to effectively investigate the events which led to them being injured by gunshot and/or their relatives being killed, to the excessive length of the criminal investigations thereof and to the lack of an effective remedy in respect of the determination of their claims.
The Government disagreed and they raised five preliminary objections.
Firstly, they challenged the Court’s jurisdiction ratione temporis to examine applications nos. 24111/14 and 24244/14, claiming that the relevant proceedings ended by the final decision of 9 December 1991.
Secondly, they submitted that all applications should be rejected for non‑compliance with the six-month time-limit as the investigation into the said events was terminated by final domestic decisions rendered years before the applicants lodged their applications before the Court, namely in 2013-2014.
They further submitted that some applicants had failed to exhaust the domestic remedies as they did not appeal against the decision of 3 April 2007 which became final on 15 October 2008.
Moreover, they considered the applications an abuse of petition in view of the fact that the applicants failed to inform the Court that the events in which they were injured and their relatives killed were subject to the above mentioned proceedings finalized with criminal convictions.
Lastly, the Government challenged the applicants’ standing arguing that they were not parties in the proceedings in case file no. 11/P/2014 (97/P/1990) still pending at the domestic level.
The Court notes at the outset that in accordance with the documents on file, the first instance decision of 9 December 1991 became final on 6 June 1997, i.e. after 20 June 1994 when Romania ratified the Convention. For this reasons, the Court dismisses the ratione temporis objection.
The Court further notes that under the terms of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention, it may only examine complaints which have been submitted within six months from the date of the “final” domestic decision. In this respect the Court observes that investigations into the Timișoara events as relevant to the present case led to the criminal conviction of certain military officers in two sets of proceedings terminated by final decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of Justice and the High Court of Cassation and Justice respectively.
The Court therefore considers that the final decisions within the meaning of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention are respectively those of 6 June 1997 (relevant for applications nos. 24111/14 and 24244/14) and of 15 October 2008 (all other applications). The Court notes that the applications were lodged respectively on 28 June 2013 and 21 March 2014, which is more than six months after the date of either of the two final decisions. It follows that the applications are inadmissible for non‑compliance with the “six months” rule set out in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention, and that they must be rejected pursuant to Article 35 § 4.
The Court considers that in such circumstances it is no longer necessary to examine the remainder of the observations raised by the Government with respect to the admissibility of the present applications.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 12 July 2016.
Andrea TamiettiVincent A. De Gaetano
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix
No
Application No
Lodged on
Applicant
Date of birth
Place of residence
43624/13
28/06/2013
Angela ȚINTARU
18/10/1969
Timișoara
43688/13
28/06/2013
Larisa-Diana BELICI
12/10/1988
Timișoara
43747/13
28/06/2013
Ion BELICI
10/04/1940
Jebel
43759/13
28/06/2013
David-Ilie LEIA
20/07/1948
Zam
43810/13
28/06/2013
Natalia BELICI
01/08/1965
Timișoara
43816/13
28/06/2013
Ramona-Dorina FEȘIU
09/04/1978
Timișoara
43852/13
28/06/2013
Emilia IȘFAN
04/07/1936
Timișoara
43872/13
28/06/2013
Ana BELICI
05/02/1948
Jebel
43874/13
28/06/2013
Vasile BĂRBAT
06/10/1937
Orșova
43875/13
28/06/2013
Angelica-Dacia DAMIAN
03/11/1968
Timișoara
43877/13
28/06/2013
Ioana Daniela BĂRBAT
15/06/1977
Timișoara
43881/13
28/06/2013
Iosif Florian SAVA
20/06/1976
Timișoara
43882/13
28/06/2013
Iosif SAVA
05/09/1955
Utvin
43889/13
28/06/2013
Roxana Elena OPRE
23/07/1987
Timișoara
43891/13
28/06/2013
Gabriel-Ciprian OPRE
30/06/1983
Timișoara
43894/13
28/06/2013
Angelica OPRE
16/08/1958
Timișoara
43920/13
28/06/2013
Valeria GÎRJOABĂ
30/12/1963
Timișoara
43923/13
28/06/2013
Maria GÎRJOABĂ
24/12/1947
Timișoara
43926/13
28/06/2013
Constantin GÂRJOABĂ
01/08/1941
Timișoara
43932/13
28/06/2013
Dumitru-Dan GÎRJOABĂ
13/03/1987
Timișoara
43942/13
28/06/2013
Anica IOSUB
10/07/1937
Chișoda
24090/14
21/03/2014
Dumitru ALEXOAIE
03/10/1969
Timișoara
24091/14
21/03/2014
Camelia ANDREI
07/04/1968
Timișoara
24110/14
21/03/2014
Mihai BUMBAR
29/11/1969
Ruscova
24111/14
21/03/2014
Nicușor CUCOȘ
20/05/1962
Timișoara
24115/14
21/03/2014
Erika DRĂGHICI
08/10/1968
Timișoara
24116/14
21/03/2014
Marcel-Constantin DRĂGHICI
29/05/1965
Timișoara
24162/14
21/03/2014
Doinița GHERASIM
04/01/1966
Timișoara
24168/14
21/03/2014
Ștefan HORVATH
16/11/1967
Timișoara
24173/14
21/03/2014
Lidia LAZĂR
20/02/1969
Timișoara
24181/14
21/03/2014
Nelu HALIP
02/09/1967
Beregsău Mic
24205/14
21/03/2014
Stelian LUCHESCU
06/02/1963
Timișoara
24210/14
21/03/2014
Eugen MURARIU
19/10/1961
Timișoara
24220/14
21/03/2014
Lucian Andrei MUREȘAN
30/12/1971
Timișoara
24225/14
21/03/2014
Dan-Ioan PAȘCA
29/08/1972
Timișoara
24235/14
21/03/2014
Vasile STAN
14/01/1955
Timișoara
24238/14
21/03/2014
Zora STOIANOV
09/09/1973
Timișoara
24244/14
21/03/2014
Marcel SIDENCO
22/11/1970
Sant’Angelo Lodigiano
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy