European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 28454/08
Jaroslav ŠIMEK and Květa ŠIMKOVÁ
against the Czech Republic

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 15 November 2011 as a Committee composed of:

Mark Villiger, President,
Karel Jungwiert,
André Potocki, judges,
and Stephen Phillips, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 10 June 2008,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicants, Mr Jaroslav Šimek and Mrs Květa Šimková, are Czech nationals who were born in 1924 and 1928 respectively and live in Nové Město nad Metují.

They were represented before the Court by Ms E. Vašková, a lawyer practising in Hradec Králové. The Czech Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Vít A. Schorm.

The applicants complained under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 that their house was taken from them in restitution proceedings without adequate compensation.

On 4 October 2011 the Court received a friendly settlement declaration signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against the Czech Republic in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them 50,000 euros to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Czech korunas 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 two 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 two-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.

Stephen Phillips Mark Villiger
Deputy Registrar President