FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 39066/04 by Natalya Grigoryevna NIKITINA against Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 10 January 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Christos Rozakis , President , Loukis Loucaides , Nina Vaji ć, Anatoli Kovler , Elisabeth Steiner , Khanlar Hajiyev , Dean Spielmann , judges , and Andr é Wampach , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 February 2003,

Having regard to the decision to apply Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and examine the admissibility and merits of the case together,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Ms Natalya Grigoryevna Nikitina , is a Russian national who was born in 1975 and lives in Irkutsk . The respondent Government were initially represented by Mr P. Laptev, the former Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights, and subsequently by their new R epresentative, Mrs V. Milinchuk .

The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

On 6 September 2002 the Justice of Peace of the 6 th Circuit of Blagoveschensk of the Amur Region awarded the applicant 24,529 Russian roubles against the Ministry of Finance. The judgment became enforceable.

On 13 April 2003 the Presidium of the Amur Regional Court , acting on supervisory review, quashed the judgment.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complained under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about non-enforcement of the judgment of 6 September 2002 .

THE LAW

On 29 August 2006 the application was communicated to the respondent Government.

On 22 December 2006 the Government ’ s observations on the admissibility and merits of the application were received and the applicant was invited to submit her written observations in reply by 7 March 2007.

As the applicant ’ s observations on the admissibility and merits had not been received by the indicated time-limit, on 28 June 2007 the applicant was advised by registered mail that the failure to submit her observations might result in the strike-out of the application. The letter was returned as unclaimed.

The Court recalls Article 37 of the Convention which, in the relevant part, reads as follows:

“1. The Court may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that

(a) the applicant does not intend to pursue his application;

...

However, the Court shall continue the examination of the application if respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto so requires...”

The applicant was advised that she was to submit written observations on the admissibility and merits of the case. She was subsequently reminded thereof by a registered letter. However, she did not collect the Court ’ s letter and it was returned to the Court as unclaimed. The Court infers therefrom that she does not intend to pursue her 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 discont inue the application of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and to s trike the case out of the Court ’ s list of cases.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the applic ation out of its list of cases.

             André Wampach Christos Rozakis              Deputy Registrar President