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JOVANOVIĆ AND OTHERS v. SERBIA

Doc ref: 13349/17, 37636/18, 58621/18, 58624/18, 16305/19, 25297/19, 31238/19, 31241/19, 31242/19, 31256/19, ... • ECHR ID: 001-209907

Document date: April 8, 2021

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JOVANOVIĆ AND OTHERS v. SERBIA

Doc ref: 13349/17, 37636/18, 58621/18, 58624/18, 16305/19, 25297/19, 31238/19, 31241/19, 31242/19, 31256/19, ... • ECHR ID: 001-209907

Document date: April 8, 2021

Cited paragraphs only

SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 13349/17 Živka JOVANOVIĆ against Serbia and 13 other applications

(s ee appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 8 April 2021 as a Committee composed of:

Carlo Ranzoni , President, Branko Lubarda , Pauliine Koskelo , judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina , Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

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

Having regard to the observations submitted by the parties,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicant s is set out in the appended table.

The applicants were represented by Ms T. Stojiljković , a lawyer practising in Leskovac .

The applicants ’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 concerning the non-enforcement of domestic decisions given against socially/State-owned companies were communicated to the Serbian Government (“the Government”) on 19 March 2020 .

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 Government submitted that the final domestic decisions at issue had been enforced.

The applicants did not dispute that fact.

The Court reiterates that an application may be rejected as an abuse of the right of individual application within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention if, among other reasons, it was knowingly based on false information or if significant information and documents were deliberately omitted, either where they were known from the outset or where new significant developments occurred during the proceedings. Incomplete and therefore misleading information may amount to an abuse of the right of application, especially if the information in question concerns the very core of the case and no sufficient explanation is given for the failure to disclose that information (see Gross v. Switzerland [GC], no. 67810/10, § 28, ECHR 2014; S.A.S. v. France [GC], no. 43835/11, § 67, ECHR 2014; and Nikolić and Others v. Serbia ( dec. ) [Committee], nos. 48162/18 and 8 others, 21 January 2021).

Turning to the present case, the Court observes that between 2 March 2017 and 2 August 2019 the sums awarded in the domestic decisions under consideration were fully paid by the State in accordance with domestic law (see Stevanović and Others v. Serbia , nos. 43815/17 and 15 others, § 17, 27 August 2019). The applicants did not inform the Court about that development before notice of the applications was given to the Government and no explanation for this omission was provided.

Having regard to the fact that the information withheld concerned the very core of the applications, the Court finds that such conduct was contrary to the purpose of the right of individual application. Lawyers must understand that, having due regard to the Court ’ s duty to examine allegations of human rights violations, they must show a high level of professional prudence and meaningful cooperation with the Court by sparing it the introduction of unmeritorious complaints and, both before proceedings have been instituted and thereafter, they must inquire diligently into all the details of the case, meticulously abide by all the relevant rules of procedure and must urge their clients to do the same. Otherwise, the wilful or negligent misuse of the Court ’ s resources may undermine the credibility of lawyers ’ work in the eyes of the Court and even, if it occurs systematically, may result in particular individual lawyers being banned from representing applicants under Rule 36 § 4 (b) of the Rules of Court (see Stevančević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina ( dec. ), no. 67618/09, § 29, 10 January 2017).

In view of the above, the Court finds that these applications constitute an abuse of the right of individual application and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the applications inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 29 April 2021 .

{signature_p_2}

Viktoriya Maradudina Carlo Ranzoni Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1

( non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions given against socially/State-owned companies )

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant ’ s name

Year of birth

Relevant domestic decision

Start date of non-enforcement period

Date of enforcement of domestic decision

13349/17

10/02/2017

Živka JOVANOVIĆ

1957Commercial Court in Leskovac , 01/12/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

27/06/2007

17/12/2010

02/03/2017

37636/18

19/07/2018

Goran CVETKOVIĆ

1973Commercial Court in Leskovac , 11/12/2003

14/03/2007

21/08/2018

58621/18

03/12/2018

Zoran PETKOVIĆ

1954Commercial Court in Leskovac , 09/10/2000

14/05/2007

30/01/2019

58624/18

03/12/2018

Miodrag STAMENKOVIĆ

1964Commercial Court in Leskovac , 19/04/2010

19/04/2010

30/01/2019

16305/19

15/03/2019

Višnjica MLADENOVIĆ

1963Commercial Court in Leskovac , 26/03/2004

Commercial Court in Leskovac , 25/08/2004

18/05/2004

30/09/2004

29/03/2019

25297/19

22/04/2019

Zorica MILJKOVIĆ

1959Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

16/05/2003

Municipal court in Leskovac ,

08/01/2008

22/03/2006

13/05/2008

14/05/2019

31238/19

04/06/2019

Vesna PAVLOVIĆ

1958Commercial Court in Leskovac , 27/11/2003

13/01/2004

18/07/2019

31241/19

04/06/2019

Tatjana ĐURIĆ

1970Commercial Court in Leskovac , 01/12/2003

14/03/2007

18/07/2019

31242/19

04/06/2019

Nevena JOVANOVIĆ

1966Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

19/12/2006

26/01/2007

18/07/2019

31256/19

03/06/2019

Bosanka MILENKOVIĆ

1949Commercial Court in Leskovac , 26/11/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

27/03/2007

14/03/2007

03/03/2009

02/08/2019

32366/19

10/06/2019

Gradimir STOJANOVIĆ

1952Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

14/07/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

23/06/2008

11/02/2008

24/03/2009

27/06/2019

32812/19

10/06/2019

Jasmina MICIĆ

1967Commercial Court in Leskovac , 26/11/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

06/03/2007

13/01/2004

19/04/2010

18/07/2019

41862/19

12/07/2019

Milka GAVRILOVIĆ

1957Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

26/06/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

17/05/2008

26/12/2007

11/03/2009

22/07/2019

41864/19

12/07/2019

Tomislav STANKOVIĆ

1953Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

22/04/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac ,

13/03/2008

12/11/2007

12/09/2008

22/07/2019

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