FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 8083/11 Nikola Boyanov HADZHISTAMOV and O thers against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights ( Fifth Section ), sitting on 26 January 2016 as a Committee composed of:

Erik Møse , President, Yonko Grozev , Mārtiņš Mits , judges,

and Milan Blaško , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 December 2010 ,

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. The applicants were represented by Ms N. Sedefova and Ms V. Sedefova , lawyers practicing in Sofia.

The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Kotseva , of the Ministry of Justice .

The applicants complained under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and Article 6 § 1 of the C onvention about excessive delays in the process of restitution of agricultural land.

In a letter of December 2014 the applicants ’ representatives informed the Court of the death of three of the applicants – Mr Dimitar Vasilev Vazharov and Ms Marina Aleksandrova Gancheva who had both died in 2011, and Ms Tsvetanka Georgieva Isaeva who had died in 2014. In May 2015 they also informed the Court of the death of Mr Aleksandar Todorov Barzov , who had died on an unspecified date.

The heirs of Ms Marina Aleksandrova Gancheva and Ms Tsvetanka Georgieva Isaeva expressed the wish to continue the proceedings.

On 27 March 2015 the application was communicated to the respondent Government.

The Swiss Government were informed of their right to intervene in the proceedings (Article 36 § 1 of the Convention and Rule 44 § 1 of the Rules of Court). They did not avail themselves of this possibility.

On 25 May and 16 November 2015 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties . The applicants as well as the heirs of the deceased applicants (apart from those of Mr Dimitar Vasilev Vazharov and Mr Aleksandar Todorov Barzov ) agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to the present application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them jointly 12 ,500 euros to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to them. This sum would be converted into Bulgarian levs at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and would 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 parties agreed that the payment would constitute the final resolution of the case.

THE LAW

1. The Court observes that two of the applicants, Mr Dimitar Vasilev Vazharov and Mr Aleksandar Todorov Barzov , died in the course of the proceedings, and that their heirs have not expressed the wish to pursue these proceedings in their stead.

In these circumstances, the Court concludes that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application in so far as these two applicants are concerned .

Accordingly, th is part of the application should be struck out of the list in accordance with Arti cle 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention .

2. The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the remaining applicants or the respective heirs and the Government . 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.

Therefore , it is appropriate to strike out this part of the application in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention .

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Done in English and notified in writing on 18 February 2016 .

Milan BlaÅ¡ko Erik Møse              Deputy Registrar President

Appendix

The applicants under nos. 1 to 12 are Bulgarian nationals, and the other two applicants are Swiss nationals.