European Court of Human Rights

Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 173

April 2014

Luli and Others v. Albania - 64480/09, 64482/09, 12874/10 et al.

Judgment 1.4.2014 [Section IV] See: [2014] ECHR 345

Article 46

Article 46-2

Execution of judgment

Measures of a general character

Respondent State required to introduce effective remedy in respect of excessive length of civil proceedings

Facts - In their applications to the European Court, the applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention of the length of civil proceedings they had brought to determine their property rights.

Law - Article 46: The Court found violations of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in respect of the length of the domestic proceedings. It also found, as in two previous cases against Albania,* that there existed no domestic remedy in respect of length-of-proceedings complaints. This demonstrated a serious deficiency in domestic legal proceedings and, indeed, dozens of similar applications were pending before the Court. General measures at the national level were undoubtedly called for including, in particular, a domestic remedy as regards undue length of proceedings. In that connection, the principles set out in Scordino v. Italy (no. 1) [GC] (36813/97, 29 March 2006, Information Note 85) set out the required elements of an effective remedy for excessive length of proceedings, the optimal solution being a combination of a remedy designed to expedite the proceedings and another to afford compensation, although a suitable compensatory remedy alone might suffice.

* Gjonbocari and Others v. Albania, 10508/02, 23 October 2007, and Marini v. Albania, 3738/02, 18 December 2007, Information Note 103.

 

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