FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 36168/17
Sreten STEFANOVIĆ
against Bosnia and Herzegovina
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 16 May 2019 as a Committee composed of:
Georges Ravarani, President,
Marko Bošnjak,
Péter Paczolay, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 8 May 2017,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicant, Mr Sreten Stefanović, born in 1916, was a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and lived in Vršac, Serbia. He was represented before the Court by Ms S. Poropat, a lawyer practising in Sarajevo.
The applicant’s complaints under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention concerning his inability to charge adequate rent for the lease of his flat and to obtain any rent prior to the entry into force of the 2015 Lease of Flats Act were communicated to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“the Government”).
The Serbian Government were informed of their right to intervene in the proceedings, in accordance with Article 36 § 1 of the Convention and Rule 44 § 1 of the Rules of Court. They chose not to avail themselves of that right.
On 6 April 2018 the Government, relying on the relevant domestic documents, informed the Court that the applicant had died on 27 January 2018.
On 30 July 2018 the applicant’s representative informed the Court that the applicant’s grandson, R.T., had expressed his wish to pursue the application and enclosed a copy of an authority form which did not contain original signatures and was not correctly dated (the date indicated was 21 August 2018).
On 1 August 2018 the Court sent a letter by registered mail to the applicant’s representative requesting her to send a copy of an authentic document issued by the domestic authorities certifying that the person wishing to pursue the application was the applicant’s legal heir, together with a duly completed authority form with the correct date and the original signatures. The applicant’s representative was informed that the Court might strike the application out of its list of cases if she did not submit the requested documents.
On 16 August 2018 the applicant’s representative replied to the Court’s letter but failed to submit the requested documents without any valid justification.
THE LAW
In the light of the foregoing, the Court is not convinced that it has been sufficiently demonstrated that any of the applicant’s heirs or close family members, who could have a legitimate interest in pursuing his application, wished to do so within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. The representative’s statement without any supporting documents or at least a duly signed power of attorney cannot be considered as sufficient evidence (see, mutatis mutandis, Yakovlev v. Armenia (dec.), 33264/03, 14 October 2008).
Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Done in English and notified in writing on 6 June 2019.
Liv TigerstedtGeorges Ravarani
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy