European Court of Human Rights

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 23201/08
by Octav TAŞCĂ
against Romania

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on
26 January 2010 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 25 April 2008,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Octav Taşcă, is a Romanian national who was born
in 1955 and lives in Timişoara. The Romanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr R. H. Radu.

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

On 2 June 1998 the applicant brought criminal proceedings with civil claims against third parties for fraud and deprivation of freedom.

By a final decision of 5 November 2007 the Timişoara Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s action on the ground that no illegal act had been committed by the third parties.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length and the unfairness of the proceedings and the lack of motivation of the decisions by the domestic courts.

The applicant complained under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention about the lack of compensation.

THE LAW

On 5 November 2009 the Court received the following declaration from the Government:

“I declare that the Government of Romania offer to pay 2,800 euros (two thousand and eight hundred euros) to Mr Octav Taşcă, 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 all damages, will be converted into Romanian Lei at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and 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 them, 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 8 July 2009 the Court received the following declaration signed by the applicant:

“I, Octav Taşcă, note that the Government of Romania are prepared to pay me the sum of 2,800 euros (two thousand and eight hundred 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 all damages, will be converted into Romanian Lei at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and 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