European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 45661/05
Onnik Arshavir KIURKCHIAN and Nuritza Haik KIURKCHIAN
against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 10 January 2012 as a Committee composed of:

David Thór Björgvinsson, President,
Nebojša Vučinić,
Vincent A. De Gaetano, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 11 November 2005,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicants, Mr Onnik Arshavir Kiurkchian and Ms Nuritza Haik Kiurkchian, are Bulgarian nationals who were born in 1937 and 1947 respectively and live in Plovdiv. They were represented before the Court by Mr M. Ekimdzhiev and Ms K. Boncheva, lawyers practising in Plovdiv. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Kotzeva, of the Ministry of Justice.

The applicants complained, in particular, of the length of the civil proceedings they had been party to and the lack of effective domestic remedies in this respect (Articles 6 § 1 and 13 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention).

On 17 August 2011 and 30 November 2011 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them 5,700 euros to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Bulgarian levs 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 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.

Fatoş Aracı David Thór Björgvinsson
Deputy Registrar President