THIRD SECTION

PARTIAL DECISION

AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF

Application no. 68368/01 by Ljubomir BOZINOVSKI against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section) , sitting on 6 December 2001 as a Chamber composed of

Mr G. Ress , President , Mr L. Caflisch , Mr P. Kūris , Mr R. Türmen , Mr J. Hedigan , Mrs M. Tsatsa - Nikolovska , Mrs H.S. Greve , judges , and Mr V. Berger , Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 30 January 2001 and registered on 20 April 2001,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Ljubomir Bozinovski, is a national of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, who was born in 1934 and lives in Skopje.

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

On an unspecified date the applicant’s niece Ms D. instituted civil proceedings with the Skopje Municipal Court disputing the applicant’s title to a part of house.

On 25 November 1991 the Skopje Municipal Court granted Ms D.’s claim. It found that her late father, who was the applicant’s brother, with the knowledge of the previous owner of the house, had invested a considerable amount of money for its refurbishment and, thereby, he had acquired a title to part of the house in accordance with the relevant provision of the Law on Property. On 9 September 1992 the Skopje County Court up-held the above judgment.

On 15 April 1993 the Supreme Court quashed the lower courts’ judgments. It referred the case back for re-examination to the Skopje Municipal Court and instructed it to order an expert valuation whereby the value of Ms D.’s father’s investment would be determined in a precise manner.

On 11 April 1996 the experts submitted their report. They concluded that  Ms D.’s late father’s investment represented 71% of the value of the respective part of the house after its refurbishment.

At the hearing of 7 May 1997 several witnesses appeared before the Skopje Municipal Court.

On 12 May 1997 the applicant made written submissions to the court. It objected to the expert report and requested that an additional expert report be prepared in respect of the value of the investment made by Ms D.’s late father.

A hearing was held on 13 June 1997 before the Skopje Municipal Court.

In November 1997 the applicant was served with the additional expert report.

On 16 February 1998 the applicant objected to the additional expert report and asked the court to appoint new experts. From the applicant’s submissions it appears that the court did not grant his request.

Another hearing was held on 9 March 1998 before the Skopje Municipal Court.

On 5 July 1999 the Skopje Municipal Court granted Ms D.’s claim, as it found, on the basis of the witnesses’ statements, expert report and additional expert report, that her late father had obtained the title to the disputed part of the house on the basis of the investment made.

Following the enactment of the Law on the Courts, the Skopje County Court became the Skopje Appellate Court.

On 27 March 2000 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Skopje Appellate Court. He complained, inter alia, that the lower court assessed the evidence wrongly and refused to appoint new experts.

On 29 June 2000 the Skopje Appellate Court rejected the applicant’s appeal. It held, inter alia, that the expert report covered all the important issues, that on the applicant’s request an additional expert report was prepared and that the report was corroborated with other evidence.

The applicant submits that he was served with the court’s judgment on 14 August 2000.

Due to the enactment of the new Code of Civil Procedure in 1998 the applicant was unable to lodge an appeal on points of law with the Supreme Court.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant complains under Article 6 § 1 that the civil proceedings to which he was a party were unfair and unreasonably long.

THE LAW

The applicant alleges two violations of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which as far as relevant, provides as follows:

“In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ..., everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing within a reasonable time... by [a] ... tribunal...”

a) As regards the applicant’s complaint about the length of the proceedings, the Court considers that it cannot, on the basis of the case-file, determine the admissibility of the complaint and that it is therefore necessary, in accordance with Rule 54 § 3 (b) of the Rules of Court, to give notice of this part of the application to the respondent Government.

b) The applicant complains that the civil proceedings to which he was a party were unfair. He alleges, in particular, that the courts assessed the evidence wrongly and erred in fact.

The Court reiterates that, according to Article 19 of the Convention, its duty is to ensure the observance of the engagements undertaken by the Contracting Parties to the Convention. In particular, it is not its function to deal with errors of fact or law allegedly committed by a national court unless and in so far as they may have infringed rights and freedoms protected by the Convention. Moreover, while Article 6 of the Convention guarantees the right to a fair hearing, it does not lay down any rules on the admissibility of evidence or the way it should be assessed, which are therefore primarily matters for regulation by national law and the national courts ( Garcia Ruiz v. Spain [GC], no. 30544/96, § 28, ECHR 1999-I).

In the light of all the material in its possession, and in so far as the applicant’s complaint has been substantiated and thus within its competence, the Court finds that it does not disclose any appearance of a violation of the Convention.

It follows that this complaint is manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 and must be rejected under Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to adjourn the examination of the applicant’s complaint that the proceedings were unreasonably long;

Declares inadmissible the remainder of the application.

Vincent Berger Georg Ress Registrar President