FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 34587/07
Mina Ivanova TSONEVA
against Bulgaria
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 11 September 2012 as a Committee composed of:
George Nicolaou, President,
Ledi Bianku,
Vincent A. De Gaetano, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 27 July 2007,
Having regard to the parties’ declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The applicant, Ms Mina Ivanova Tsoneva, is a Bulgarian national who was born in 1980 and lives in Plovdiv. She was represented before the Court by Mr M. Ekimdzhiev, Ms K. Boncheva and Ms G. Chernicherska, lawyers practising in Markovo and Plovdiv.
The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Dimova, of the Ministry of Justice.
The applicant complained, inter alia, under Article 8 of the Convention and Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 of a travel ban imposed on her in connection with an unpaid bank loan. She also complained under Article 13 of the Convention of the lack of effective remedies in that respect.
On 22 February 2012 and 6 July 2012 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties, under which the applicant agreed to waive any claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to the application against an undertaking by the Government to pay her, within three months of notification of the decision of the Court to strike out the application, 3,500 euros, covering any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses. That sum would be converted into Bulgarian levs at the rate applicable on the date of payment and be free of any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant. In the event of failure to pay the sum within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The parties declared that the payment of that sum would constitute the final resolution of the case.
The applicant additionally expressed her preferences concerning the way in which the above sum should be divided between her and her legal representatives. The Court considers that this is an internal matter between them.
THE LAW
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 and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Fatoş AracıGeorge Nicolaou
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy