European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 26374/06
by Gjorgi TANESKI
against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 20 October 2009 as a Chamber composed of:

Peer Lorenzen, President,
Renate Jaeger,
Karel Jungwiert,
Rait Maruste,
Mark Villiger,
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, judges,
and Stephen Phillips, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 22 May 2006,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicant, Mr Gjorgi Taneski, is a Macedonian national who was born in 1951 and lives in Ohrid. He was represented before the Court by Mr L. Naumoski, a lawyer practising in Ohrid. The Macedonian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs R. Lazareska Gerovska.

On 22 June 2009 the Court decided to communicate the applicant’s complaint concerning the length of the criminal proceedings instituted against him for accepting a bribe. The proceedings began on 20 July 1996 and ended on 31 January 2006. The applicant also complained under Article 6 of the Convention that he lacked adequate time to prepare his defence; had not been informed promptly of the accusation against him; had not been given right to cross-examine witnesses at the trial and that the domestic courts had wrongly assessed evidence.

On 1 September 2009 and 15 September 2009 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay him 2,200 euros to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Macedonian Denars at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and free of any taxes that may be applicable. This sum would be payable to the personal account of the applicant 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 undertook 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 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 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.

Stephen Phillips Peer Lorenzen
Deputy Registrar President