FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 5735/15
Florică IORDACHE against Romania
and 17 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 13 September 2018 as a Committee composed of:
Georges Ravarani, President,
Marko Bošnjak,
Péter Paczolay, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting 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 some of the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
1. The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
2. The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of criminal proceedings as well as the complaints in applications nos. 20720/15 and 22393/15 under Article 13 of the Convention, concerning the lack of an effective remedy, were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”). Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
A. Joinder of the applications
3. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
B. Complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (excessive length of criminal proceedings)
4. The Government pleaded non-exhaustion of domestic remedies under Article 35 § 1 of the Convention since the applicants had not pursued an action for tortious liability.
5. Those applicants who replied to the Government’s observations disagreed with the preliminary objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies.
6. The Government also raised other preliminary objections. However, the Court will not pursue these objections, as it considers that the complaints are in any event inadmissible for the reasons set out below.
7. In the case of Brudan v. Romania (no. 75717/14, § 68, 10 April 2018), the Court held that following its judgment in the case of Vlad and Others v. Romania (nos. 40756/06 and 2 others, 26 November 2013), the action for tortious liability had been included by the domestic courts as an effective remedy to complain about the excessive length of proceedings, before both criminal and civil courts in Romania. In Brudan (cited above), the Court also found that the High Court for Cassation and Justice’s judgment of 30 January 2014, which consolidated the domestic case-law on actions for tortious liability, had acquired a sufficient level of certainty on 22 March 2015. It therefore concluded that this remedy must be exhausted, as of that date, for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention (see Brudan, cited above, § 88).
8. The present applications were all lodged with the Court after 22 March 2015 (see the appended table) and the applicants were therefore required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention to avail themselves of this domestic remedy (see Brudan, cited above, § 89). It appears from the case files that the applicants have not lodged actions for tortious liability before the domestic courts, or have failed to provide the Court with a final decision rendered by the competent court in such proceedings.
9. Accordingly, the Government’s objection of failure to exhaust domestic remedies must be upheld. It follows that these complaints must be rejected as inadmissible, pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
C. Complaint under Article 13 of the Convention
10. In applications nos. 20720/15 and 22393/15, the applicants also raised complaints under Article 13 of the Convention. Given that the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention have been rejected for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, no issue arises in relation to the applicants’ complaints under Article 13. It follows that they are manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
D. Remaining complaints
11. In applications nos. 21070/15, 23221/15, 31263/15, 38876/15, 42268/15 and 44908/15 the applicants also raised other complaints under various articles of the Convention.
12. The Court has examined the applications listed in the appended table and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.
13. It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 4 October 2018.
Liv TigerstedtGeorges Ravarani
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(excessive length of criminal proceedings)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Representative’s name and location
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length
Levels of jurisdiction
Other complaints under well-established case-law
5735/15
08/04/2015
Florică Iordache
12/01/1966
Ileana Stoica,
Bucharest
21/02/2001
28/02/2013
12 years and
8 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
19791/15
16/04/2015
Gheorghe
Țepeș-Piser
04/08/1967
10/04/2009
21/10/2014
5 years and 6 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
19793/15
16/04/2015
Ioan Doboș
10/04/1963
10/04/2009
21/10/2014
5 years and 6 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
20720/15
21/04/2015
Felician Cotyso Străuț
04/04/1967
Teodora Cătălina Godîncă-Herlea,
Cluj-Napoca
09/09/2002
21/10/2014
12 years and 1 month and 13 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
21070/15
21/04/2015
Ioan Anton Dogaru
15/06/1953
25/01/2007
21/10/2014
7 years and 8 months and 27 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
22393/15
21/04/2015
Tudor-Valeriu Herlea
16/05/1956
Teodora Cătălina Godîncă-Herlea,
Cluj-Napoca
09/09/2002
21/10/2014
12 years and 1 month and 13 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law
23221/15
07/05/2015
Laurian Iulian Lucaș
02/05/1974
Radu Liviu Chiriţă,
Cluj-Napoca
26/05/2005
06/11/2014
9 years and 5 months and 12 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
23980/15
14/05/2015
Mihai Zerkula
05/08/1968
31/05/2005
17/12/2014
9 years and 6 months and 18 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
28225/15
02/06/2015
Flavius-Leonard Ioniță
26/01/1977
01/09/2006
12/06/2014
7 years and 9 months and 12 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
31246/15
17/06/2015
Constantin Buga
07/03/1986
George Bogdan Pocovnicu,
Bacău
19/07/2007
19/12/2014
7 years and 5 months and 1 day
2 levels of jurisdiction
31263/15
13/06/2015
Ciprian State Hidişan
30/03/1974
27/09/2002
17/12/2014
12 years and 2 months and 21 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
31292/15
19/06/2015
Aurel Mailat
25/02/1986
George Bogdan Pocovnicu,
Bacău
19/07/2007
19/12/2014
7 years and 5 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
38876/15
03/09/2015
Marius-Sebastian Leontiuc
03/07/1979
Laura Mirela Leontiuc,
Timișoara
16/08/2008
11/03/2015
6 years and 6 months and 24 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
42268/15
12/08/2015
Sorin Corpodean
29/03/1965
16/04/2009
04/02/2015
5 years and 9 months and 20 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
43016/15
17/08/2015
Bogdan Neacșu
11/05/1977
Maria Emanuela Gruia,
Bucharest
10/11/2009
20/02/2015
5 years and 3 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
44908/15
02/09/2015
Marilena Ristache
25/10/1968
Mihai-Adrian Hotca,
Bucharest
08/01/2009
05/03/2015
6 years and 1 month and 26 days
3 levels of jurisdiction
54082/15
21/10/2015
Mache-Marian Gheorghiță
05/09/1966
Claudiu-Mihai Toma,
Bucharest
03/12/2007
30/04/2015
7 years and 5 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
55981/15
28/10/2015
Nicolaie Costache
24/03/1956
Claudiu-Mihai Toma,
Bucharest
03/12/2007
30/04/2015
7 years and 5 months
2 levels of jurisdiction
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