European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 23154/07
by Paul KÄRBERG
against Estonia

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 21 October 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Karel Jungwiert, President,
Rait Maruste,
Renate Jaeger,
Mark Villiger,
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Claudia Westerdiek, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 17 May 2007,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Paul Kärberg, is an Estonian national who was born in 1948 and lives in Lohusuu, Ida-Viru County. He was represented before the Court by Mr A. Lillo, a lawyer practising in Tartu. The Estonian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Kuurberg of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On 14 February 2002 a criminal investigation was started in respect of suspected offences of intentionally submitting untrue information in the value added tax (VAT) returns of a private limited company, P. The applicant was declared a suspect in the case, which also concerned similar allegations in respect of other taxes.

On 28 December 2006 an investigator from the Tax and Customs Board (Maksu- ja Tolliamet) declared the applicant a fugitive.

On 26 January 2007 the Viru County Court (maakohus) ordered the applicant's arrest and detention at the request of the prosecutor. The applicant's appeals were to no avail. However, the order was never implemented.

On 11 May 2007 the Viru County Court ordered, at the prosecutor's request, the attachment of five plots of land belonging to the applicant in order to secure compensation for the damage caused by the offence he had allegedly committed. The decision was upheld upon appeal.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant raised various complaints relating to the length of the proceedings, the detention order and the review procedure as well as the attachment of his property. He invoked Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.

THE LAW

By a letter dated 3 September 2008 the applicant informed the Court that the criminal proceedings against him had been terminated. He submitted that he wished to withdraw his application filed with the Court, noting that he had no claims against the Republic of Estonia related to his application. He requested that his application be struck out of the list of cases.

By a letter dated 9 September 2008 the Government informed the Court of their consent that the examination of the case be discontinued and proposed that the case be struck out of the list of cases of the Court.

The Court finds that the applicant no longer wishes to pursue his application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case. 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.

Claudia Westerdiek Karel Jungwiert
Registrar President