European Court of Human Rights

SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 34619/08
Vjenčeslav HENJEL
against Serbia

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 20 March 2012 as a Committee composed of:

András Sajó, President,
Dragoljub Popović,
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, judges,
and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 3 July 2008,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicant, Mr Vjenčeslav Henjel, is a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina who was born in 1941 and lives in Canada. He was represented before the Court by Mr N. Maljković, a lawyer practising in Novi Beograd. The Serbian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr S. Carić. The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina were invited to intervene in the proceedings (Article 36 § 1 of the Convention), but they have not expressed their intention to do so.

The applicant complained about the failure of the respondent Party to enforce a final domestic judgment rendered against the Customs Administration.

On 28 November 2011 and 5 January 2012 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Serbia in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay him 5,400 (five thousand four hundred) euros to cover any non pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into domestic currency 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 parties furthermore agreed that within the same three-month period the Government would pay, from their own funds, the sums awarded in the domestic decision adopted by the First Municipal Court (Prvi opštinski sud) in Belgrade on 4 April 2005, less any amounts which may have already been paid on the basis of the said decision, plus the costs of the domestic proceedings.

These payments 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.

Françoise Elens-Passos András Sajó
Deputy Registrar President