European Court of Human Rights

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 40694/04
by Jolanda SZIKES
against Romania

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 25 November 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Josep Casadevall, President,
Corneliu Bîrsan,
Boštjan M. Zupančič,
Egbert Myjer,
Ineta Ziemele,
Luis López Guerra,
Ann Power, judges,
and Santiago Quesada, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 29 October 2004,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case.

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Ms Jolanda Szikes, is a Romanian national who was born in 1939 and lives in Braşov. The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Răzvan-Horaţiu Radu.

A.  The circumstances of the case

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

On 29 April 1996, the applicant brought an action under the Law no. 112/1995, against the State for the recovery of the possession of an immovable property lost during the communist regime.

The proceedings lasted for more than eight years and seven months for three levels of jurisdiction, before six courts and an administrative body and were finally settled in favour of the applicant on 3 December 2004, by a judgement of Braşov Court of Appeal.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complained under Article 6 of the Convention about the unreasonable delay of the proceedings.

THE LAW

On 8 October 2008 the Court received the following declaration from the Government:

“I declare that the Government of Romania offer to pay ex gratia 1 700 Euros to Ms Jolanda Szikes with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be converted into Romanian lei at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. It will 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 this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on it, 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. The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.”

On 9 September 2008 the Court received the following declaration signed by the applicant:

“I, Jolanda Szikes, note that the Government of Romania are prepared to pay me ex gratia the sum of 1 700 Euros with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned case pending before the European Court of Human Rights.

This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be converted into Romanian lei at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. It will 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. From the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amount at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

I accept the proposal and waive any further claims against Romania in respect of the facts giving rise to this application. I declare that this constitutes a final resolution of the case.”

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 its Protocols and finds no public policy reasons to justify a continued examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). 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.

Santiago Quesada Josep Casadevall
Registrar President