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    European Court of Human Rights


    You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> European Court of Human Rights >> Dimitar Ivanov FRENKOV v Bulgaria - 7100/07 [2012] ECHR 575 (20 March 2012)
    URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2012/575.html
    Cite as: [2012] ECHR 575

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    FOURTH SECTION

    DECISION

    Dimitar Ivanov FRENKOV against Bulgaria
    and 8 other applications
    (see table appended)

    The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 20 March 2012 as a Committee composed of:

    George Nicolaou, President,
    Zdravka Kalaydjieva,
    Vincent A. De Gaetano, judges,
    and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,

    Having regard to the applications listed in the table below,

    Having regard to the pilot judgment in the case of Finger v. Bulgaria, no. 37346/05, § 135, 10 May 2011,

    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. Ekimdjiev, Ms G. Chernicherska, Mr D. Mitkov, Ms S. Vasileva, Ms S. Lyubenova Neykova, Ms V. Koeva, Mr Y. Georgiev, Ms Katina Boncheva and Mr V. Stoyanov. 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 8 August 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 proceedings and in some cases the complaints under Article 13 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention 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 would cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, as well as costs and expenses, and would be free of any taxes that may be applicable, to be converted into the national currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement. 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 settlements 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 reasons 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 Aracı George Nicolaou
    Deputy Registrar President


    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.

    7100/07

    14/01/2007

    Dimitar Ivanov FRENKOV

    1956

    Plovdiv

    1) 14/08/1998 – 12/12/2006 (the date on which the judgment of 07/11/2006 entered into force)


    2) 27/10/1998 – 14/07/2006

    1) Civil proceedings for damages resulting from an alleged occupational disease


    2) Administrative proceedings on appeal of the medical authorities’ decision in relation to the alleged occupational disease

    1) 8 years and 3 months (1 level of jurisdiction; these proceedings were stayed for several years waiting the outcome of the second proceedings)


    2) 7 years and 8 months (2 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)

    28 September 2011

    2 February 2012

    4,500

    2.

    7741/07

    05/01/2007

    Yordanka Ilieva HRISTOVA

    1923

    Sofia


    1) First set of proceedings

    05/04/1993 05/07/2006


    2) Second set of proceedings

    26/08/1997 05/07/2007

    Restitution and rei-vindicatio proceedings


    13 years and 3 months for the first set of proceedings (3 levels of jurisdiction)


    9 years and 10 months for the second set of proceedings (3 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)


    Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1 (impact of length on property rights)

    12 October 2011

    2 February 2012

    7,700

    3.

    7815/07

    08/02/2007

    Lyuben Petrov PETKOV

    1936

    Sofia

    19/09/200008/08/2006

    Labour dispute

    5 years and 10 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)

    31 October 2011

    2 February 2012

    1,500

    4.

    12591/07

    26/02/2007

    Vasil Strahilov NESHEV

    1946

    Pernik

    21/03/2000 – 31/08/2006

    Labour dispute

    6 years and 5 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    22 August 2011

    2 February 2012

    1,500

    5.

    12716/07

    16/02/2007

    Todor Stefanov TANGALOV

    1961

    Veliko Tarnovo

    29/02/200024/10/2007

    Labour dispute

    7 years and 10 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)

    2 September 2011

    2 February 2012

    2,500

    6.

    16855/07

    21/12/2006

    Mariyka Kirilova BLASKOVA

    1941

    Varna


    Violeta Alexandrova BLASKOVA

    1968

    Varna

    16/04/1999

    28/10/2008

    Proceedings for compensation for a property that could not be denationalised

    9 years and 6 months (2 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1 (impact of length on property rights)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)

    27 September 2011

    2 February 2012

    4,800

    7.

    17555/07

    27/03/2007

    TOTEL OOD

    Sofia


    01/08/1997 –

    1) Phase of opening of bankruptcy proceedings –01/11/2004

    2) Phase of declaring the applicant company bankrupt

    29/09/2006

    Bankruptcy proceedings

    9 years and 2 months (3 levels of jurisdiction for the opening of bankruptcy proceedings and 2 levels of jurisdiction for declaring the applicant company bankrupt)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1 (impact of length on property rights)

    30 September 2011

    2 February 2012

    1,800

    8.

    17777/07

    27/03/2007

    Teodora Ivanova SOTIROVA

    1950

    Plovdiv


    Nedyalka Petrova IVANOVA

    1927

    Plovdiv


    Mariyana Ivanova UNGER

    Plovdiv

    01/06/1993 – 07/11/2006

    Rei-vindicatio proceedings

    13 years and 5 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)

    24 October 2011

    2 February 2012

    6,500

    9.

    17856/07

    14/12/2006

    Yordan Nikolov KANCHEV

    1961

    Pazardzhik

    7/12/2000 –

    15/09/2006

    Labour dispute

    5 years and 9 months (3 levels of jurisdiction)

    Art. 6 § 1 (length of proceedings)


    Art. 13 (lack of effective remedies in respect of length)

    21 September 2011

    2 February 2012

    1,100


     



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URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2012/575.html