European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 14306/08
by Mariana HANZEĽOVÁ and Others
against Slovakia

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 18 May 2010 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza, President,
Giovanni Bonello,
David Thór Björgvinsson,
Ján Šikuta,
Päivi Hirvelä,
Ledi Bianku,
Nebojša Vučinić, judges,
and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 5 March 2008,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The application was lodged by Ms Mariana Hanzeľová and her two sons Mr Dominik Hanzeľ and Mr Urban Hanzeľ. The applicants are Slovak nationals who were born in 1972, 1993 and 1995 respectively and live in Turňa nad Bodvou. They were represented before the Court by Ms I. Rajtáková, a lawyer practising in Košice. The Slovak Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs M. Pirošíková.

The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings which started on 18 January 2002 and ended on 27 February 2008. On 12 July 2007 the Constitutional Court found no violation of the applicants’ right to a hearing within a reasonable time.

The Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties on 22 February and 1 April 2010 under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Slovakia in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them 5,800 euros to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses. This sum would be free of any taxes that might 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 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 will 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 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.

Lawrence Early Nicolas Bratza
Registrar President