European Court of Human Rights

SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 14350/06
by János FARKAS
against Hungary

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 12 May 2009 as a Chamber composed of:

Françoise Tulkens, President,
Ireneu Cabral Barreto,
Vladimiro Zagrebelsky,
Danutė Jočienė,
Dragoljub Popović,
András Sajó,
Nona Tsotsoria, judges
and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 2 April 2006,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr János Farkas, is a Hungarian national who was born in 1930. The Hungarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr L. Höltzl, Agent, Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement.

The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 about the protraction of civil proceedings which had started in 1985 and not yet been terminated at the time of the introduction of the application.

THE LAW

The examination of the present case may be discontinued for the following reasons.

The applicant did not respond to the invitation sent to him to comment on the observations submitted by the Government in the case. A registered letter of reminder sent to him by the Registry was returned on 19 March 2009 by the Hungarian Post, stating that the applicant had died. No successors have contacted the Court.

Consequently, the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (c) 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.

Françoise Elens-Passos Françoise Tulkens
Deputy Registrar President