European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 28960/07
by Piotr DELAKOWSKI
against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 10 February 2009 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza, President,
Lech Garlicki,
Giovanni Bonello,
Ljiljana Mijović,
Ján Šikuta,
Mihai Poalelungi,
Nebojša Vučinić, judges
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 4 July 2007,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Piotr Delakowski, is a Polish national who was born in 1970 and lives in Warszawa. The respondent Government were represented by their Agent, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The circumstances of the case

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

On 2 January 2002 criminal proceedings against the applicant were instituted.

On an unspecified date in January 2006 a bill of indictment was lodged with the Warsaw District Court. The applicant has not specified the nature of the charges against him.

On 31 May 2007 the Warsaw Regional Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint under the 2004 Act on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time and stated that the fact that the proceedings, including the pre-trial phase, had been pending for over 5 years did not in itself mean that any undue delay had occurred in the proceedings before the District Court.

The proceedings are pending before the first instance court.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of the proceedings in his case.

THE LAW

On 1 September 2008 the Court decided to communicate the application to the Government.

On 13 October 2008 the Court received the following declaration signed by the applicant:

“I note that the Government of Poland are prepared to pay me the sum of 10,000 Polish zlotys 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 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 Poland in respect of the facts giving rise to this application. I declare that this constitutes a final resolution of the case”.

On 21 October 2008 the Court received the following declaration from the Government:

“I declare that the Government of Poland offer to pay 10,000 PLN to Mr Piotr Delakowski 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, This sum, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, 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”.

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 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.

Fatoş Aracı Nicolas Bratza
Deputy Registrar President