SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 60335/11
Robert Arkadyevich VARTANOV and Others
against Georgia and Russia
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 12 March 2026 as a Committee composed of:
Stéphane Pisani, President,
Juha Lavapuro,
Hugh Mercer, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application against Georgia and Russia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 21 September 2011,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDUREThe Georgian Government were represented by their Agent, Mr B. Dzamashvili, of the Ministry of Justice. The Russian Government were given notice of the application.
The applicants complained in particular under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention that, even though they had pursued proceedings before the de facto Abkhaz courts in relation to immovable properties which they had inherited in Abkhazia, Georgia, they had been unable to recover their properties. They also made complaints under Article 6 § 1 and Article 14 of the Convention.
On 19 May 2025 the Court decided to give notice to both Governments of the applicants’ complaints detailed above.
On 15 September 2025 the Government of Georgia submitted to the Registry their observations on the admissibility and merits of the application. These were forwarded on 17 September 2025 to the applicants, who were invited to submit observations in reply by 29 October 2025. That time-limit was extended to 10 December 2025 at the request of the applicants’ representative. The Russian Government did not submit observations.
On 10 December 2025 the death of all three applicants was communicated to the Registry. No heirs presented themselves to pursue the procedure.
THE LAWIn the light of the foregoing, the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention (compare in terms of approach with Špehar and Gojković v. Croatia (dec.), nos. 7535/21 and 58894/21, §§ 28‑29, 8 July 2025, and contrast with Karner v. Austria, no. 40016/98, §§ 27-28, ECHR 2003-IX).
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.
Done in English and notified in writing on 2 April 2026.
Viktoriya Maradudina Stéphane Pisani
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applicants
No.
Applicant’s Name
Nationality
Place of residence
Represented by
1.
Robert Arkadyevich VARTANOV
Russian
Moscow
Koroteyev Kirill Nikolayevich
2.
Valentina Stefanovna KOVALENKO
Russian
Moscow
3.
Tatyana Fedorovna SHEVCHENKO
Russian
Moscow