European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 4364/04
by Dimitar Angelov GERDZHIKOV
against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 31 March 2009 as a Chamber composed of:

Rait Maruste, President,
Karel Jungwiert,
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 6 January 2004,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application lodged with the Court on 6 January 2004 by Mr Dimitar Angelov Gerdjikov, a Bulgarian national who was born in 1933 and lives in Plovdiv. He was represented before the Court by Ms S. Stefanova and Mr M. Ekimdzhiev, lawyers practising in Plovdiv. The respondent Government were represented by their Agents, Ms M. Dimova and Ms S. Atanasova, of the Ministry of Justice.

On 15 January 2008 the Court communicated the application with its complaints about the alleged excessive length and the lack of effective remedies in respect of a partition-of-property proceedings that had began on 14 December 1994 and, in so far as the Court had been informed, were still pending, at their second phase, on 24 November 2003 before the Peshtera District Court.

On 20 February and 12 December 2008 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay him 3,500 euros (EUR). This sum, which would cover EUR 3,000 in respect of any non-pecuniary damage as well as EUR 500 for costs and expenses, would be converted into Bulgarian levs at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and free of any taxes that may be applicable. The whole sum 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 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).

As to an expressed preference by the applicant concerning the repartition of the amount to be paid by the Government between him and his legal representatives, the Court considers this to be an internal matter between them.

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 Rait Maruste
Registrar President