FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 9018/04
by Anatoliy Sergeyevich TSVETKOV and Others
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 23 September 2010 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Nina Vajić,
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Giorgio Malinverni,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 1 February 2004,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants are three Russian nationals. Mr Anatoliy Sergeyevich Tsvetkov and Mr Ilya Igorevich Smirnov were born in 1959 and 1982 respectively and live in Velikiye Luki of the Pskov Region. Mr Viktor Anatolyevich Khlebnikov, also resident of Velikiye Luki, was born in 1955 and died in 2007. The Russian Government (“the Government”) are represented by Mr G. Matuyshkin, the Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
By the judgment of 20 June 2003, which became final on 30 July 2003, the Justice of the Peace of the 34th Court Curcuit of Velikiye Luki of the Pskov Region made a pecuniary award in the applicants' favour against a local educational authority. In May 2004 the judgment debt had been paid to the applicants in full.
COMPLAINT
The applicants complained under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about non-execution of the judgment in their favour.
THE LAW
1. On 6 May 2010 the Government submitted to the Registry their comments on the admissibility of the application, in which they informed the Court that Mr Khlebnikov had died on 23 December 2007.
By letter dated 15 May 2010 the Government's observations were sent to the known address of the applicant's contact person. No reply followed.
The Court takes note of the fact that the applicant has died and no member of his family or heir has expressed a wish to continue the proceedings before the Court in her stead.
The Court considers with reference to Article 37 § 1 (a) and (c) of the Convention that, in these circumstances, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list in so far as it concerns the complaints introduced by Mr Khlebnikov.
2. As regards the complaints by Mr Tsvetkov and Mr Smirnov, on 6 March 2008 these applicants informed the Court that they wanted to withdraw the application.
The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicants may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue their applications, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. The Court further notes that the domestic judgment in their applicants had been fully executed within less than one year from its entry into force.
Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list in so far as it concerns the complaints by Mr Tsvetkov and Mr Smirnov.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
André WampachChristos Rozakis
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy