THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 19600/18 Catherine CAUCHI and O thers against Malta

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 3 September 2019 as a Committee composed of:

Branko Lubarda, President, Vincent A. De Gaetano, Alena Poláčková, judges,

and Stephen Phillips , Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 20 April 2018,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They were represented before the Court by Dr M. Camilleri and Dr E. Debono , lawyers practising in Valletta.

The Maltese Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Dr P. Grech , Attorney General.

The applicants complained that they were still victims of the violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 upheld by the Constitutional Court given the low amount of compensation awarded.

On 24 May 2019 and 2 July 2019 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Malta in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them 20,000 euros, jointly, to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be free of any taxes that may be applicable and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, 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 case.

THE LAW

The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

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

Done in English and notified in writing on 26 September 2019 .

Stephen Phillips Branko Lubarda Registrar President

Appendix

No.

Applicant ’ s Name

Birth date

Nationality

Place of residence

1Catherine CAUCHI

08/04/1941

Maltese

Valletta

2Jeremy CAUCHI

27/12/1969

Maltese

Valletta

3John CAUCHI

14/11/1963

Maltese

Valletta

4Thomas CAUCHI

25/10/1964

Maltese

Valletta