European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 45319/06
Nikolay Kostadinov SHOMOV
against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 29 May 2012 as a Committee composed of:

Päivi Hirvelä, President,
Ledi Bianku,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 23 October 2006,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Nikolay Kostadinov Shomov, is a Bulgarian national, who was born in 1949 and lives in Sofia He is represented before the Court by Ms V. Bezina, a lawyer practising in Sofia. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) are represented by their Agent, Ms N. Nikolova, of the Ministry of Justice.

On 3 November 2011 notice of the applicant’s complaint under Article 6 § 1 about the length of civil proceedings was given to the Government and the parties were invited to secure a friendly settlement. The applicant’s representative did not reply to the Registry’s letter.

By letter dated 18 January 2012, sent by registered mail, the applicant’s representative was notified that the period allowed for submission of the applicant’s position regarding the friendly-settlement proposal had expired on 12 December 2011 and that no extension of the time-limit had been requested. Her attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike a case out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application.

The registered mail return receipt was received by the Court on 1 March 2012 with a note that the letter had been delivered on 8 February 2012. However, no response has been received ever since.

The Court has not received any correspondence from the applicant or his representative since 2006.

THE LAW

The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue his application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case. 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.

Fatoş Aracı Päivi Hirvelä
Deputy Registrar President