SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 3446/10 Mehmet KOLU and Ahmet KOLU against Turkey and 2 other applications

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 17 June 2021 as a Committee composed of:

Branko Lubarda, President, Pauliine Koskelo, Marko Bošnjak, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.

The present applications mainly concern the property damage sustained by the applicants following a large underground explosion that took place in Batman on 3 May 2004. The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, concerning their inability to access civil courts to claim damages on account of the allegedly erroneous application of the time-limit rules, and under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, regarding the alleged violation of their property rights as a result of the explosion, were communicated to the Turkish Government (“the Government”).

The Court received the friendly-settlement declarations, signed by the parties, under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Turkey in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them the amounts detailed in the appended table. These amounts will be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on them, from the 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 payment will constitute the final resolution of the cases.

THE LAW

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Court takes note of the friendly settlements reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlements are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 8 July 2021.

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Viktoriya Maradudina Branko Lubarda Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention

No.

Application no. Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Date of receipt of Government’s declaration

Date of receipt of Applicant’s declaration

Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses

(in euros) [1]

3446/10

17/12/2009

(2 applicants)

Mehmet KOLU

1984Ahmet KOLU

1981Çakan Abdulhamit

Batman

22/02/2021

30/03/2021

10,000 jointly to the applicants

26757/10

06/04/2010

Mehmet Beşir ÇİFTÇİ

1960Erken Mehmet Masum

Batman

12/04/2021

04/05/2021

6,000

26767/10

06/04/2010

Memet Sait KURT

1938Erken Mehmet Masum

Batman

19/04/2021

04/05/2021

6,000

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.