European Court of Human Rights

FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 25175/07
by Pance Ribarski and Others
against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

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

Anatoly Kovler, President,
Christos Rozakis,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 May 2007,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The application was lodged by Mr Pance Ribarski, Mr Vlatko Petrov and Mr Tome Velkov, Macedonian nationals who were born in 1975, 1972 and 1976 respectively and live in Štip. They were represented before the Court by Mr N. Radovik and Mr V. Zezov lawyers practising in Štip. The Macedonian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs R. Lazareska Gerovska.

On 4 November 2010 the Court decided to communicate the applicants’ complaint concerning the length of civil proceedings in which they claimed employment-related allowances. The proceedings began on 13 March 2002 and ended on 5 January 2007 (date of service).

On 16 December 2010 and 25 January 2011 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay to each of them 1,100 euros to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Macedonian Denars at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and would be free of any taxes that may be applicable. This sum would be payable to the personal accounts of the applicants 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 would 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.

André Wampach Anatoly Kovler
Deputy Registrar President