European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 40045/07
Fedor Gavrilovich CHERNEYCHUK
against Ukraine

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 22 November 2011 as a Committee composed of:

Boštjan M. Zupančič, President,
Elisabet Fura,
Ann Power-Forde, judges,
and Stephen Phillips, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 3 September 2007,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicant, Mr Fedor Gavrilovich Cherneychuk, was a Ukrainian national who was born in 1930. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Ms Valeria Lutkovska and Mr Nazar Kulchytskyy, of the Ministry of Justice.

The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length and unfairness of civil proceedings in his case.

In May 2009 the applicant died. In March 2011 Ms Kovalyova, his daughter, expressed the wish to pursue the application in his stead.

On 16 February and 6 May 2011, respectively, the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the Government and Ms Kovalyova. Under the declaration, Ms Kovalyova agreed to waive any further claims against Ukraine in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay her 2,300 euros to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses. This sum will be converted into Ukrainian hryvnias at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and 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 LAW

From the outset, the Court notes that the Government stated that it would not object if the Court declares that Ms Kovalyova is entitled to pursue the application. It further considers that Ms Kovalyova has locus standi to pursue the application in the late applicant’s stead (see, for instance, Svistun v. Ukraine, no. 9616/03, §§ 13-14, 21 June 2007; and Kalyuk v. Ukraine (dec.), no. 8809/07, 22 June 2010).

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.

Stephen Phillips Boštjan M. Zupančič
Deputy Registrar President