FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 44043/05
by Vladimir Ivanovich SUTOLKIN
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 24 January 2008 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Loukis Loucaides,
Nina Vajić,
Anatoli Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Dean Spielmann, judges,
and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 24 October 2005,
Having regard to the decision to apply Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and examine the admissibility and merits of the case together,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr Vladimir Ivanovich Sutolkin, is a Russian national who was born in 1935 and lives in Voronezh. He was represented before the Court by Mr A. Rashevskiy, a lawyer practising in Voronezh. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were initially represented by Mr P. Laptev, the former Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights, and subsequently by their new Representative, Mrs V. Milinchuk.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
On 19 January 2001 the Levoberezhniy District Court of Voronezh awarded the applicant 1,052.08 Russian roubles for index-linking of his late pension payments in line with inflation. The judgment came into force on 30 January 2001 and was enforced in December 2005.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about the lengthy non-enforcement by the State of the final judgment in his favour.
THE LAW
By the letter of 2 October 2007 the applicant informed the Court that he had reached a friendly settlement with the Government and was to sign an agreement to that effect.
On 25 October 2007 the Government informed the Court that the parties had signed a friendly settlement agreement whereby the Government would pay the applicant 3,000 euros in full and final resolution of the case, costs and expenses included.
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). Accordingly, Article 29 § 3 of the Convention should no longer apply to the case and it should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Søren NielsenChristos Rozakis
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy