THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 43914/21
Petar Ivanov VASILEV and Others
against Bulgaria
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 21 November 2024 as a Committee composed of:
Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir, President,
Úna Ní Raifeartaigh,
Mateja Đurović, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 25 August 2021,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants were represented by Mr M. Ekimdzhiev, Ms K. Boncheva and Ms M. Dokova-Kostadinova, lawyers practising in Plovdiv.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and Article 13 of the Convention concerning the lengthy duration of a restitution procedure were communicated to the Bulgarian Government (“the Government”).
On 3 June and 24 October 2024 the Court received friendly-settlement declarations signed by the parties. The applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to the application, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay jointly to the four of them 6,500 (six thousand five hundred) euros (EUR), to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants. This amount will be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay this amount within the above‑mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake 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 agreed that such payment would constitute the final resolution of the case.
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 the Protocols thereto 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.
Done in English and notified in writing on 12 December 2024.
Viktoriya Maradudina Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applicants:
No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of birth
Nationality
Place of residence
1.
Petar Ivanov VASILEV
1949
Bulgarian
Plovdiv
2.
Krasimir Dimitrov VASILEV
1957
Bulgarian
Plovdiv
3.
Stoyan Ivanov VASILEV
1959
Bulgarian
Plovdiv
4.
Rayna Dimitrova VASILEVA
1950
Bulgarian
Plovdiv