Communicated on 28 May 2014
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 15301/14
Ruža SOLDO
against Croatia
lodged on 14 February 2014
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Ms Ruža Soldo, is a Croatian national, who was born in 1953 and lives in Zagreb. She is represented before the Court by Ms I. Bojić, a lawyer practising in Zagreb.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
1. Background of the case
After her first husband died in 1991, the applicant concluded a marriage with I.Š. on 10 December 2000.
As a result of the marriage with I.Š., the applicant lost her right to receive a survivor’s pension related to the death of her first husband.
I.Š. died on 7 January 2002.
2. Civil proceedings and the applicant’s length-of-proceedings complaint
On 19 November 2002 I.Š.’s relatives brought a civil action against the applicant in the Zagreb Municipal Civil Court (Općinski građanski sud u Zagrebu), asking that her marriage with I.Š. be declared null and void.
In January 2011 the applicant complained to the Zagreb County Court (Županijski sud u Zagrebu) about the length of the proceedings.
On 14 November 2011 the Zagreb County Court held that the length of the proceedings had been excessive, awarded the applicant 5,000 Croatian kunas in compensation and ordered the lower court to conclude the proceedings within nine months.
The Zagreb Municipal Civil Court failed to comply with this order and concluded the proceedings on 24 January 2014. The first-instance judgment was due to be pronounced on 20 March 2014.
3. Criminal proceedings
In the meantime, I.Š.’s relatives instituted private criminal proceedings in the Županja Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Županji) against the applicant, an official from the registry of births and marriages and two other individuals, on charges of abuse of power and authority and forgery.
On 26 November 2009 the Županja Municipal Court acquitted the applicant and the other accused, which was confirmed on appeal on 25 February 2010.
4. Administrative proceedings
Meanwhile, the applicant requested the certificates she required from the register of births and marriages in order to support her pension claim.
Her request was first dismissed by the Vukovarsko-Srijemska County State Administration (Ured državne uprave u Vukovarsko-srijemskoj Županiji) on 19 April 2012. The applicant successfully challenged the decision, and on 5 June 2012 the Ministry of Administration (Ministarstvo uprave) ordered that her request be examined.
On 27 June 2012 the Vukovarsko-Srijemska County State Administration stayed the proceedings concerning the applicant’s request for certificates from the register of births and marriages pending the final outcome of the civil proceedings in which the status of her marriage with I.Š. would be determined.
The applicant appealed, and on 7 September 2012 the Ministry of Administration dismissed her appeal as ill-founded.
The applicant also submitted two claims to the Croatian Pension Fund (Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje), seeking to be granted a survivor’s pension related to either the death of her first husband or the death of I.Š.
On 22 July 2013 the Croatian Pension fund dismissed the applicant’s claim as regards her pension entitlements after the death of I.Š., on the grounds that the civil proceedings had still not been concluded with final effect.
On the same day it dismissed the claim related to the applicant’s first husband, on the grounds that by remarrying, she had lost her right to a survivor’s pension related to his death.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention that for more than thirteen years, owing to lengthy civil proceedings, she has been unable to obtain the necessary certificates from the register of births and marriages attesting to her status as I.Š.’s widow, which has adversely affected her pension rights.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of the positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention concerning the applicant’s right to respect for her private and family life in connection with her impossibility to obtain the necessary certificates from the public registers attesting to her family status and her related impossibility to obtain any pension?
The Government are requested to submit two copies of relevant inventory and other documents related to the applicant’s case.
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