FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 15423/07
Vanya Dobcheva VASILEVA and others against Bulgaria
and 8 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 3 July 2012 as a Committee composed of:
David Thór Björgvinsson, President,
Nebojša Vučinić,
Vincent A. De Gaetano, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the applications listed in the table below, communicated as part of the groups of Vasilevi and 15 other applications (no. 15423/06 and others) and Slavov and Others and 15 other applications (no. 41095/05 and others),
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The applicants are Bulgarian nationals whose names and dates of birth are specified in the table below. Some of the applicants were legally represented. The legal representatives involved were Mr M. Ekimdzhiev, Ms K. Boncheva, Mr L. Novikov, Ms D. Karailieva, Mr D. Mitkov, Ms S. Vasileva and Ms G. Chernicherska. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Dimova, of the Ministry of Justice.
The essential information as to the length of the proceedings in which the applicants were involved is indicated in the attached table.
On 14 December 2011 and 18 October 2011 the President of the Fourth Section decided to communicate the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the length of civil or criminal proceedings and in some cases the complaints under Article 13 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 concerning the lack of effective remedies in relation to the length and the impact of the length of the proceedings on property rights.
THE LAW
The Court considers that in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications should be joined, given their common legal background.
On various dates (see table below) the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications against an undertaking by the Government to pay them ex gratia sums, which will cover any and all damage, as well as costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable, to be converted into the national currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment. The sums would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them from 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. This payment would constitute the final resolution of the cases.
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlements are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reason to justify a continued examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Fatoş AracıDavid Thór Björgvinsson
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix
No.
Application no.
Lodged on
Applicant’s name, year of birth, place of residence
Beginning and end of the domestic proceedings
Subject matter of domestic proceedings
Length of proceedings and instances concerned
Communicated complaints
Date of applicant friendly settlement declaration
Date of Government’s friendly settlement declaration
Friendly settlement sums (in euros)
1.
15423/07
07/03/2007
Vania Dobcheva VASILEVA
1957
Varna
Plamen Veselinov VASILEV
1982
Varna
Dobromir Veselinov VASILEV
1993
Varna
From:
05/07/2000
Until:
12/09/2006
Civil proceedings for compensation for the death of the applicants’ husband and father
6 years and 2 months (three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
16 January 2012
28 May 2012
1,700 jointly
2.
41548/07
09/09/2007
Konstantin Videv DIMITROV
05/01/1947
Haskovo
From:
26/07/2000
Until:
12/03/2007
Labour dispute
6 years and 7 months
(three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
13 January 2012
28 May 2012
2,000
3.
44145/07
27/09/2007
Konstantin Mironov TASEV
1935
Sofia
From:
15/03/2001
Until:
12/04/2007
Labour dispute
6 years and 29 days (three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
12 January 2012
28 May 2012
1,000
4.
44617/07
28/09/2007
Ivan Marinov IVANCHEV
1934
Sofia
From:
12/02/1996
Until:
23/04/2007
Civil proceedings for declaring final a preliminary contract transferring the ownership of an apartment
11 years and 2 months (three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
12 January 2012
28 May 2012
4,000
5.
49314/07
22/10/2007
Milka Nikolova GEORGIEVA
1959
Sofia
From:
09/10/1996
Until:
21/05/2008
Criminal proceedings for issuing a false official document
11 years and 7 months (one level of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
16 March 2012
28 May 2012
6,500
6.
51738/07
30/08/2007
Nikolina Atanasova GEORGIEVA
1961
Sofia
From:
09/11/2001
Until:
02/03/2007
Labour dispute
5 years and 3 months (three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
20 January 2012
28 May 2012
1,300
7.
52316/07
01/11/2007
Paunevka Dimitrova
ZLATEVA
1942
Sofia
From:
12/06/2000
Until:
18/06/2007
Labour dispute concerning compensation to be paid upon retirement
7 years (three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
10 January 2012
28 May 2012
2,000
8.
5449/08
08/01/2008
Emilia Konstantinova
IVANOVA
1948
Sofia
Kalina Konstantinova
BLAGOEVA
1942
Sofia
From:
19/06/2001
Until:
Pending
as of 19/05/2009
(last known judgment of the Supreme Court of Cassation remitting the case to the lower court because of procedural failures)
Civil proceedings for acquiring part of a property restituted to the applicants and co-owned with the State
7 years and 11 months until 19/05/2009
(three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)
Art. 1 Prot. 1 (peaceful enjoyment of possessions)
16 January 2012
28 May 2012
1,850 per applicant
9.
11197/08
22/01/2008
Aleksandar Mihaylov
ANDREEV
1946
Sofia
From:
30/01/1995
Until:
Pending as of 21/01/2011
(date of applicant’s last correspondence to the Court).
Civil proceedings for declaring a decision of the general assembly of a building cooperative null and void
15 years and 11 months until 21/01/2011
(three levels of jurisdiction)
Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)
12 January 2012
28 May 2012
8,000
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