FIFTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 42288/04
by Georgi Vasilev SHARANKOV
against Bulgaria
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 9 February 2010 as a Chamber composed of:
Peer Lorenzen, President,
Renate Jaeger,
Karel Jungwiert,
Rait Maruste,
Mark Villiger,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Claudia Westerdiek, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 4 November 2004,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The application was lodged by Mr Georgi Vasilev Sharankov, a Bulgarian national who was born in 1938 and lives in Sofia. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms N. Nikolova, of the Ministry of Justice.
The applicant's complaints under Articles 6 and 13 of the Convention concerning the length of the labour proceedings brought by him and the lack of effective remedies related thereto were communicated to the Government on 26 June 2009. At the same time the Court initiated a friendly settlement procedure and invited the applicant to state whether he accepted the proposed terms. The letter was sent to the correspondence address designated by the applicant, but no response was received.
In a letter dated 6 October 2009, sent by registered post, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of the friendly settlement declaration had expired on 15 September 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. The letter sent to the applicant's address was returned on 5 November 2009 as “unclaimed”.
On 21 October 2009 the Government informed the Court that they accepted the friendly settlement proposal and would not submit observations, and requested an extension of the deadline to submit a signed unilateral declaration. In a letter of 27 October 2009, sent by registered post, the applicant was invited to submit observations and claims for just satisfaction. The applicant's attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention once again. The letter was returned on 27 November 2009 as undelivered.
No further correspondence has been received from the applicant whose last communication to the Court dates back to 18 March 2008.
THE LAW
The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue his 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.
Claudia WesterdiekPeer Lorenzen
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy