THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 40709/05
by Romana ŠKET and Others
against Slovenia
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 25 January 2011 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 application lodged on 10 October 2005,
Having regard to the Government’s settlement proposals made to the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants Ms Romana Šket, Ms Jožica Šket, Mr Andrej Šket, Ms Urška Šket and Ms Polonca Šket are Slovenian nationals who were born in 1965, 1988, 1989, 1992 and 1994 respectively and live in Drevenik. They were represented before the Court by Ms B. Zidar, a lawyer practising in Celje. The Slovenian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
On 29 April 1997 the applicants Ms Jožica Šket, Mr Andrej Šket, Ms Urška Šket and Ms Polonca Šket instituted civil proceedings against G.Š. in the Šentjur pri Celju Local Court (Okrajno sodišče v Šentjurju pri Celju). They were represented by their statutory representative Ms Romana Šket.
The proceedings were terminated on 7 June 2006; this is before the 2006 Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial without Undue Delay (“the 2006 Act”) became operational.
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
The Court notes at the outset that the applicant Ms Romana Šket, who only represented her children in the domestic proceedings, was not a party to these proceedings and that, consequently, she cannot claim to be a victim of the alleged violations of Articles 6 § 1 and 13 of the Convention. It follows that this part of the application is incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention and must be rejected pursuant to Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.
With regard to the applicants Ms Jožica Šket, Mr Andrej Šket, Ms Urška Šket and Ms Polonca Šket the Court notes that, after the Government had been given notice of the application, they informed the Court that the applicants and the State Attorney’s Office had reached a friendly settlement.
By the settlement agreement signed by the State 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 2,160 euros (EUR) to each applicant for the damage sustained and EUR 537.05 to all applicants for costs and expenses incurred. The applicants accepted the amount as full compensation for the damage sustained due to the length of the proceedings and waived any further claims against the Republic of Slovenia in respect of this complaint.
The applicants subsequently informed the Court, in writing, that the case had been settled at the domestic level and that they wished to withdraw their application.
The Court takes note that following the settlement reached between the parties the matter has been resolved at the domestic level and that the applicants do not wish to pursue their application. 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 case concerning the applicants Ms Jožica Šket, Mr Andrej Šket, Ms Urška Šket and Ms Polonca Šket out of the list in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) and (b) of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to declare the complaint lodged by the applicant Ms Romana Šket inadmissible;
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in so far as it relates to the applicants Ms Jožica Šket, Mr Andrej Šket, Ms Urška Šket and Ms Polonca Šket.
Marialena TsirliElisabet Fura
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy