THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Applications nos. 16116/06, 30160/06 and 47396/06
by Gregor RABUZA and others
against Slovenia
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 7 December 2010 as a Committee composed of:
Elisabet Fura, President,
Boštjan M. Zupančič,
Ineta Ziemele, judges,
and Marialena Tsirli, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications,
Having regard to the Government’s settlement proposals made to the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants are Slovenian nationals who live in Slovenia.
The applicant Mr Rabuza was represented before the Court by Ms B. Zidar, a lawyer practising in Celje. The applicants Ms Korošec and Mr Erkić were represented by Mr B. Verstovšek, a lawyer practising in Celje.
The Slovenian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.
The applicants were parties to civil proceedings which were finally resolved (pravnomočno končan postopek) before 1 January 2007, that is, before the 2006 Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial without Undue Delay (“the 2006 Act”) became operational.
The applicants Ms Korošec and Mr Erkić subsequently lodged an appeal on points of law with the Supreme Court (Vrhovno sodišče).
The applicant Ms Korošec was also a party in another set of civil proceedings which were finally resolved less than three months after the implementation of the 2006 Act.
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of civil proceedings and under Article 13 of the Convention about the lack of an effective domestic remedy in that regard.
THE LAW
In the present cases, the Court notes that, after the Government had been given notice of the applications, they informed the Court that they had made a settlement proposal to each of the applicants.
By the settlement agreements signed by the State’s Attorney’s Office and the applicants, the former acknowledged a violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time and accepted to pay the applicants the non-pecuniary damage sustained and costs and expenses incurred. The applicants accepted the amount as a full compensation for the damage sustained due to the length of the above proceedings and waived any further claims against the Republic of Slovenia in respect of this complaint.
The applicants subsequently informed the Court that they had reached settlements with the State’s Attorney’s Office and that they wished to withdraw their applications introduced before the Court.
The Court recalls Article 37 of the Convention which, in the relevant part, reads as follows:
“1. The Court may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that
(a) the applicant does not intend to pursue his application; or
(b) the matter has been resolved;
...
However, the Court shall continue the examination of the application if respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto so requires.”
The Court takes note that following the settlements reached between the parties the matter has been resolved at the domestic level and that the applicants do not wish to pursue their applications. It is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention or its Protocols does not require the examination of the application to be continued (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) and (b) of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Marialena TsirliElisabet Fura
Deputy RegistrarPresident
ANNEX
No.
Application No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of Birth
Address
Date of Introduction
Date of settlement proposal or agreement signed by the State Attorney
1.
16116/06
Gregor RABUZA
1972
Dobje pri Planini
20/03/2006
17/09/2009
2.
30160/06
Hajdi KOROŠEC
1979
Celje
11/07/2006
30/08/2010
3.
47396/06
Marinko ERKIĆ
1953
Velenje
06/10/2006
30/08/2010
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