THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 7129/15
Dejan SINĐELIĆ and others
against Serbia
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 29 August 2019 as a Committee composed of:
Dmitry Dedov, President,
Alena Poláčková,
Gilberto Felici, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 18 July 2014,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants were represented by Ms J. Mihailović, a lawyer practising in Valjevo.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings were communicated to the Serbian Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
In the present application, having examined all the material before it, the Court considers that for the reasons stated below, the respondent Government cannot be held liable for the excessive length of the impugned administrative proceedings.
The Court notes that the administrative proceedings started on 11 September 2006 when the applicants filed an appeal with the competent second-instance body (see Počuča v. Croatia, no. 38550/02, § 30, 29 June 2006). It would appear that the proceedings are still pending almost thirteen years later. However, exceptionally, the period to be taken into consideration includes also the proceedings before the Constitutional Court since the Constitutional Court quashed the judgments of the Administrative Court in the applicants’ case on two occasions (on 22 July 2010 and 29 September 2016). It thereby acted as a court of fourth instance.
As regards the period from 11 September 2006 until 13 March 2014, the Court finds that the applicants can no longer claim to be victims within the meaning of Article 34 of the Convention since, on 13 March 2014, the Constitutional Court expressly acknowledged the alleged breach and awarded the applicants 300 euros each in respect of non-pecuniary damage. Although that amount is lower than those awarded by the Court, the Court considers that it is still reasonable in view of the particular circumstances of this case, notably, the large number of applicants and the rather limited stakes involved in the case.
As to the period after 13 March 2014, the applicants failed to exhaust all effective domestic remedies as required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention since they should complain again to the Constitutional Court about any further delays (see Becová v. Slovakia (dec.), no. 23788/06, 18 September 2007).
The application must therefore be rejected pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1, 3 and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Declares the application inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 19 September 2019.
Liv TigerstedtDmitry Dedov
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(excessive length of civil proceedings)
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicants’ names
Dates of birth
Start of proceedings
End of proceedings
Total length Levels of jurisdiction
Relevant domestic decision
Domestic award
(in euros per applicant)
7129/15
18/07/2014
(126 applicants)
Dejan SINĐELIĆ
22/06/1975
Adam ADAMOVIĆ
15/11/1968
Miloš SPASOJEVIĆ
10/05/1982
Vladimir MIĆIĆ
19/08/1985
Zlatan RANKOVIĆ
12/06/1969
Dragan MARJANOVIĆ
24/08/1964
Milomir JANKOVIĆ
14/05/1962
Ljuboje KOSTADINOVIĆ
07/05/1972
Dragan RIZNIĆ
21/12/1966
Mitar RAJIĆ
08/11/1973
Miladin VASIĆ
23/02/1971
Zoran CVEJIĆ
02/03/1975
Milan IGNJATOVIĆ
21/07/1962
Radosav AKSIĆ
29/09/1969
Milan RADIVOJEVIĆ
22/03/1972
Zoran MITROVIĆ
26/08/1970
Vladimir RAKIĆ
01/05/1980
Vladimir MIJAILOVIĆ
18/11/1973
Milovan JEVTIĆ
15/08/1970
Dragutin ĐURĐEVIĆ
05/07/1966
Miljan STEVIĆ
07/12/1969
Goran ALIMPIĆ
10/11/1969
Slobodan PAVLOVIĆ
14/11/1960
Perica DIKOSAVIĆ
12/01/1976
Mladen ĐEKIĆ
13/06/1978
Slađana LUKIĆ
14/09/1978
Veroljub STOJIĆEVIĆ
21/03/1964
Ivan RAKIĆ
09/06/1974
Dragana JOSIPOVIĆ
06/01/1980
Nikola ĐURIĆ
08/06/1983
Jovica MAKSIMOVIĆ
23/07/1973
Dragan ANDRIĆ
25/02/1967
Zoran MILOVANOVIĆ
31/10/1969
Milisav DRLJAČIĆ
08/10/1954
Goran MARKOVIĆ
20/09/1969
Željko ADAMOVIĆ
07/03/1968
Gojko SEKULIĆ
28/02/1971
Jovica CVETANOVIĆ
05/11/1969
Duško MARINKOVIĆ
16/11/1966
Radoslav GVOZDENAC
24/08/1961
Slavica ANDRIĆ
10/11/1975
Milan VIŠNJIĆ
26/04/1962
Svetomir MITRAŠINOVIĆ
05/04/1963
Milorad IGNJATOVIĆ
02/03/1966
Branislav OSTOJIĆ
27/05/1968
Slobodan JOVIĆ
21/08/1967
Petar RADOVANOVIĆ
21/07/1962
Maja VUKAŠINOVIĆ
27/02/1980
Slobodan NOVAKOVIĆ
02/03/1970
Dragan PETROVIĆ
27/02/1962
Nenad PALIĆ
27/03/1977
Milan POPOVIĆ
22/06/1975
Dragiša BLAGOJEVIĆ
30/09/1974
Čeda LAZIĆ
11/03/1975
Goran ĐOKIĆ
11/02/1967
Anica IGNJATOVIĆ
17/01/1981
Dejan ADAMOVIĆ
28/02/1972
Dragan STANOJEVIĆ
27/12/1969
Nebojša VASIĆ
10/02/1973
Zoran DRAŽIĆ
15/10/1968
Goran CVETIĆ
24/03/1973
Danijela KRSMANOVIĆ
23/10/1980
Igor RADOSAVLJEVIĆ
10/07/1984
Miloš JOVIĆ
29/01/1985
Aca BOJIĆ
25/09/1962
Mileta PAVLOVIĆ
16/09/1968
Željko JANKOVIĆ
31/10/1972
Aleksandar GAJIĆ
13/06/1972
Jovica JOSIĆ
14/05/1974
Borisav ĐORĐIĆ
12/04/1968
Cale CEROVAC
11/09/1971
Zoran NOVIČIĆ
28/01/1965
Nebojša LAZAREVIĆ
15/03/1981
Branko LAZIĆ
27/12/1983
Zvezdan OKILJEVIĆ
24/06/1963
Bojan PALIĆ
07/01/1980
Milan STEFANOVIĆ
13/09/1963
Goran TADIĆ
25/03/1976
Danijela LAZIĆ
14/04/1982
Suzana JEVTIĆ
03/07/1977
Jasmina MILINKOVIĆ
15/09/1979
Nenad IVANOVIĆ
27/11/1972
Zoran JANKOVIĆ
12/03/1971
Milovan MIHAILOVIĆ
21/06/1979
Milovan IGNJATOVIĆ
22/08/1985
Dragan NOVAKOVIĆ
18/06/1956
Snežana SELENIĆ
19/02/1974
Dragan NINKOVIĆ
10/10/1964
Zoran MILINKOVIĆ
19/07/1966
Dragan ALIMPIĆ
07/05/1962
Sreten RAŠEVIĆ
14/07/1969
Miroslav SIMIĆ
25/07/1966
Blaža SIMEUNOVIĆ
27/10/1967
Rade VLAJKOVIĆ
20/03/1983
Predrag GRUJIĆ
22/02/1973
Dejan TOŠKOVIĆ
23/05/1969
Miloš JOVANOVIĆ
22/10/1979
Nebojša TADIĆ
17/05/1983
Rade NIKOLIĆ
13/08/1964
Ivana PAJIĆ VULETIĆ
08/11/1983
Rade MITROVIĆ
14/07/1970
Milić MARKOVIĆ
09/01/1963
Branko JEVTIĆ
13/11/1975
Zoran TEŠIĆ
29/09/1976
Dragan LUKIĆ
20/03/1971
Mile VASIĆ
13/11/1984
Mijailo POPOVIĆ
28/09/1967
Jelena ĐURIĆ
01/05/1981
Zoran RADOVANOVIĆ
14/08/1975
Dragan KRSTIĆ
15/03/1979
Saša NENADOVIĆ
11/08/1972
Mioljub ŽIVKOVIĆ
23/09/1973
Milan MIRKOVIĆ
10/03/1969
Zoran TODIĆ
30/03/1977
Dragomir PAPUČA
09/07/1977
Mirjana PETROVIĆ NINKOVIĆ
20/08/1977
Momir PETROVIĆ
06/04/1961
Dragan PAVLOVIĆ
11/09/1983
Aleksandara PERIĆ
12/11/1968
Slobodan PANTELIĆ
18/05/1983
Snežana JOKIĆ
20/10/1977
Vlada LEKIĆ
09/05/1969
Živko SIMIĆ
16/07/1963
Goran JEVTIĆ
28/10/1972
Dragan VASILJEVIĆ
05/08/1956
Zorica STANOJEVIĆ
07/07/1979
11/09/2006
pending
More than 12 years and 9 months and 16 days
2 levels of jurisdiction
Constitutional Court
Už-3201/2011
13 March 2014
300
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy