THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Applications nos. 21168/03, 33103/04, 1428/05, 5620/05, 5678/05, 9990/05, 10723/05, 15386/05, 45033/05 and 36486/06
against Slovenia
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 23 June 2009 as a Chamber composed of:
Josep Casadevall, President,
Corneliu Bîrsan,
Boštjan M. Zupančič,
Egbert Myjer,
Ineta Ziemele,
Luis López Guerra,
Ann Power, judges,
and Santiago Quesada, 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 all nationals of Slovenia (see the attached appendix). The applicants Mr Hliš, Ms and Mr Plešnik, Mr Andoljšek and Mr Bezenšek were represented before the Court by Mr B. Verstovšek and the applicants Mr Skutnik and Mr Majcen were represented by Ms M. Končan Verstovšek, both lawyers practising in Celje. Ms Pengal and Mr Jokan were represented by Mr Z. Lipej, a lawyer practising in Medvode. The applicant Ms Čulibrk was represented by Mr Dokič, a lawyer practising in Piran. The applicants Ms Jurgele Škrlep, Ms M. Jurgele, Ms J. Jurgele and Mr J. Jurgele were represented by Mr. R. Završek, a lawyer practising in Ljubljana.
The respondent Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Lucijan Bembič, State Attorney-General.
A. The circumstances of the case
The applicants were parties to proceedings which terminated before 1 January 2007.
B. Relevant domestic law
The Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial without Undue Delay (Zakon o varstvu pravice do sojenja brez nepotrebnega odlašanja, Official Journal, No. 49/2006 – “the 2006 Act”) became operational on 1 January 2007.
Section 25 lays down the following transitional rules in relation to applications already pending before the Court:
Section 25 - Just satisfaction for damage sustained prior to implementation of this Act
“(1) In cases where a violation of the right to a trial without undue delay has already ceased and the party has made a claim for just satisfaction with the international court before the date of implementation of this Act, the State Attorney’s Office shall offer the party a settlement on the amount of just satisfaction within four months of the date of receipt of the case referred by the international court for the settlement procedure. The party shall submit a settlement proposal to the State Attorney’s Office within two months of the date of receipt of the proposal of the State Attorney’s Office. The State Attorney’s Office shall decide on the proposal as soon as possible and within a period of four months at the latest.....
(2) If the proposal for settlement referred to in paragraph 1 of this section is not acceded to or the State Attorney’s Office and the party fail to negotiate an agreement within four months of the date on which the party made its proposal, the party may lodge a claim [for just satisfaction] with the competent court under this Act. The party may lodge a claim within six months of receiving the State Attorney’s Office reply that the party’s proposal referred to in the previous paragraph was not acceded to, or after the expiry of the period fixed in the previous paragraph for the State Attorney’s Office to decide whether to proceed with settlement. Irrespective of the type or amount of the claim, the provisions of the Civil Procedure Act concerning small claims shall apply in proceedings before a court.”
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that the civil proceedings had been excessively long. They also complained that they did not have an effective domestic remedy in this regard (Article 13 of the Convention).
THE LAW
In the present cases, the Court notes that, after the Government had been informed of the applications under Article 54 § 2(a) of the Rules of Court, all the applicants received the State Attorney’s Office’s settlement proposals under section 25 of the 2006 Act acknowledging a violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time and offering redress for non-pecuniary damage (see the appendix). It further notes that the applicants have since then been in a position to either negotiate a settlement with the State Attorney’s Office or, if that would be unsuccessful, lodge a “claim for just satisfaction” in accordance with the relevant provisions of the 2006 Act (see “Relevant domestic law” above). The latter has been considered by the Court to constitute appropriate means of redressing a breach of the reasonable time requirement of Article 6 that has already occurred (see Pohlen v Slovenia (dec.), no. 28457/03, §§ 40-43, 3 June 2008).
The Court reiterates 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
...
(c) for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application.
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.
Having regard to the foregoing, the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue with the examination of the applications and that they should be struck out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c). In reaching this conclusion, the Court has taken into account its competence under Article 37 § 2 of the Convention to restore the case to its list of cases if it considers that the circumstances justify such a course.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Santiago QuesadaJosep Casadevall
RegistrarPresident
Appendix
No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of Birth
Address
Application No.
Date of Introduction
Date of settlement proposal or agreement signed by the State Attorney
1
Robert SKUTNIK
1973
Dobrna
21168/03
10/06/2003
22/01/2009
2
Ana ČULIBRK
1940
Črniče
33103/04
23/08/2004
11/02/2009
3
Darko HLIŠ
1960
Celje
1428/05
08/12/2004
02/03/2009
4
Jožica PLEŠNIK
Boštjan PLEŠNIK
1960
1980
Šoštanj
5620/05
21/01/2005
10/02/2009
5
Snežna JURGELE ŠKRLEP
Marija JURGELE
Jasna JURGELE
Jurij JURGELE
1963
1940
1968
1970
Kranj
5678/05
01/02/2005
29/01/2009
6
Maja PENGAL
1976
Mengeš
9990/05
09/03/2005
05/01/2009
7
Jože JOKAN
1940
Ljubljana
10723/05
17/03/2005
12/02/2009
8
Jure ANDOLJŠEK
1975
Gomilsko
15386/05
15/04/2005
13/01/2009
9
Branko MAJCEN
1960
Nova Cerkev
45033/05
23/11/2005
10/02/2009
10
Jože BEZENŠEK
1968
Slovenske Konjice
36486/06
01/09/2006
26/03/2009
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