FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 5373/05
by Raisa Nikolayevna VARFALOMEYEVA
against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 29 April 2008 as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Dean Spielmann,
Sverre Erik Jebens,
Giorgio Malinverni,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 5 January 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 deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Ms Raisa Nikolayevna Varfalomeyeva, is a Russian national who was born in 1950 and lives in the town of Novovoronezh in the Voronezh Region. She was represented before the Court by Ms S. Poznakhirina, a lawyer practising in Novovoronezh. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mrs V. Milinchuk, 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.
On 14 July 2003 the Novovoronezh Town Court partly upheld the applicant’s action against the Social Security Service of the Novovoronezh Town Council (hereafter – the Service) and awarded her 22,109.75 Russian roubles (RUB) in compensation for health damage. The judgment was upheld on appeal and became final on 18 September 2003. It was enforced on 7 June 2005.
On 1 April and 6 May 2004 the Town Court upheld two other actions lodged by the applicant against the Service and awarded her RUB 13,971.25 and RUB 9,494.54, respectively, in outstanding compensation for health damage. By the judgment of 6 May 2004 the Town Court also awarded the applicant RUB 5,664.85 in monthly payments of compensation. Both judgments were not appealed against and became final. They were enforced in full on 25 August and 11 November 2005, respectively.
On 27 August and 6 September 2004 the applicant obtained two final judgments by which the Service was to pay her a lump sum of RUB 9,494.55 in compensation for health damage, a lump sum of RUB 2,272.30 in outstanding social benefits, and RUB 679.78 in monthly social benefit payments. The judgments were not appealed against, became final and were enforced in full on 7 June 2005 and 10 November 2006, respectively.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complained under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 that the final judgments issued in her favour had not been enforced in good time.
THE LAW
By the letter of 14 January 2008 the Government informed the Court that the applicant had accepted a proposal for a friendly settlement and had waived any further claims against Russia in respect of the facts of the present application. They provided the Court with the friendly settlement agreement signed by the parties whereby the Government had undertaken to pay the applicant 5,000 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 discontinue the application of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and to strike the application out of its list of cases.
André WampachChristos Rozakis
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy