European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 52119/07
Chavdar Nikolov DARZHIKOV
against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 17 April 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 November 2007,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicant, Mr Chavdar Nikolov Darzhikov, is a Bulgarian national who was born in 1959 and lives in Sofia. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) are represented by their Agent, Mrs N. Nikolova, of the Ministry of Justice.

On 26 October 2011 notice of the applicant’s complaint under Article 6 § 1 about the length of criminal proceedings was given to the Government and the parties were invited to secure a friendly settlement. The applicant did not reply to the Registry’s letter.

By letters dated 31 January 2012, sent by registered post to the two addresses indicated by the applicant in his application form, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of his position regarding the friendly-settlement proposal expired on 5 December 2011 and that no extension of the time-limit had been requested. The applicant’s 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 letters were returned to the Court, unopened, on 13 February and 6 March 2012 with the respective mentions that the addressee had moved to another address and that the letter had not been reclaimed.

The Court has not received any correspondence from the applicant since the introduction of the application in 2007.

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 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