FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 552/07 Leonid Georgiyovych YEMELYANOV and Vira Mykhaylivna YEMELYANOVA against Ukraine and 8 other applications (see list appended)

The European Court of Human Rights ( Fifth Section ), sitting on 17 December 2013 as a Committee composed of:

Boštjan M. Zupančič, President, Ann Power-Forde, Helena Jäderblom, judges, and Stephen Phillips , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dat es stated in the annexed table ,

Having regard to the declaration s submitted by the respondent Government on the various dates stated in the annexed table requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases and the applicants ’ repl ies to th ose declaration s ,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.

The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Nazar Kulchytskyy, of the Ministry of Justice.

The applicants mainly complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of proceedings and one of them also under Article 13 of the Convention about the lack of an effective remedy in that regard .

The applications were communicated to the Government .

THE LAW

1. The applicants complained about the length of the proceedings to which they were parties . They relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. The applicant in application no. 13335/08 complained also under Article 13 of the Convention about the lack of an effective remedy in that regard .

After the failure of attempts to reach a friendly settlement, by letter s sent on various dates (see the annexed table) the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issue raised by this part of the applications. They further requested the Court to strike out the applications in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.

The Government acknowledged the excessive duration of consideration of the applicants ’ cases before national courts and , in application no. 13335/08 , also lack of effective domestic remedy in that regard. They offered to pay the applicants the amounts detailed in the annexed table and invited the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases, as referred to in Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. The sums were to cover any and all pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses . They would be converted into the local currency at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and would be free of any taxes that may be applica ble . They were to be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. In the event of failure to pay th ese sum s within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them , from the expiry of tha t 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 s .

By letter s dated on various dates listed in the annexed table , the applicants indicated that they were not satisfied with the terms of the unilateral declaration s .

The Court recalls that Article 37 of the Convention provides that it may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to one of the conclusions specified, under (a), (b) or (c) of paragraph 1 of that Article. Article 37 § 1 (c) enables the Court in particular to strike a case out of its list if:

“for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the applications”.

It also recalls that in certain circumstances, it may strike out application s under Article 37 § 1(c) on the basis o f a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicants wish the examination of the cases to be continued.

To this end, the Court will examine carefully the declaration in the light of the principles emerging from its case-law, in particular the Tahsin Acar judgment ( Tahsin Acar v. Turkey , [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75-77, ECHR 2003-VI; WAZA Spółka z o.o. v. Poland (dec.) no. 11602/02, 26 June 2007; and Sulwińska v. Poland (dec.) no. 28953/03).

The Court has established in a number of cases, including those brought against Ukraine , its practice concerning complaints about the violation of one ’ s right to a hearing within a reasonable time (see, for example, Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII; Cocchiarella v. Italy [GC], no. 64886/01, §§ 69-98, ECHR 2006 ‑ V ; Majewski v. Poland , no. 52690/99, 11 October 2005; and Pavlyulynets v. Ukraine , no. 70767/01, §§ 39-52, 6 September 2005 ).

Having regard to the nature of the admissions contained in the Government ’ s declaration s , as well as the amount s of compensation proposed – which are consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases – the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1(c)).

Moreover, in light of the above considerations, and in particular given the clear and extensive case-law on the topic, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1 in fine ).

Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declaration, the application could be restored to the list in accordance with Article 37 § 2 of the Convention ( Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4 March 2008).

2. The applicants, except for the fourth and the seventh, also raised c omplain ts under Articles 2, 3, 4, 6 , 13 and 17 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 relating to the outcome of the proceedings .

The Court has carefully examined the applications listed in the annexed table and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession, and in so far as the matter complained of is within its competence, the se complaints do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms set out in the Convention or its Protocols.

It follows that this part of the application s is manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to join the applications;

Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government ’ s declarations in so far as they concern the length of proceedings , and in application no. 13335/08 also the lack of an effective remedy in that regard , and of the modalities for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein;

Decides to strike part of the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention;

Declares the remainder of the application s inadmissible.

Stephen Phillips Boštjan M. Zupančič Deputy Registrar President

Appendix

No

Application No

Lodged on

Applicant

Date of birth

Place of residence

Nationality

Date of the Government ’ s UD

Date of the applicant ’ s letter

Sum awarded

552/07

24/11/2006

Leonid Georgiyovych YEMELYANOV

12/12/1938

Kyiv

Ukrainian

Vira Mykhaylivna YEMELYANOVA

06/02/1944

Kyiv

Ukrainian

19/10/2012

07/12/2012

2,340 EUR jointly

20649/07

09/05/2007

Nina Pavlivna MUSIYENKO

20/05/1953

Chernigiv

Ukrainian

10/01/2011

17/06/2013

700 EUR

13335/08

22/02/2008

Igor Vladimirovich STRYZHENYUK

15/03/1960

Odessa

Ukrainian

14/06/2013

06/08/2013

1,530 EUR

34089/11

25/05/2011

Tatyana Karolyevna KOVALENKO

23/07/1958

Nikopol

Ukrainian

31/05/2012

17/07/2012

1,700 EUR

46064/11

15/07/2011

Nikolay Nikolayevich SANZHAREVSKIY

04/05/1950

Manchenky

Ukrainian

07/08/2012

19/08/2013

2,400 EUR

48032/11

11/07/2011

Galyna Oleksandrivna GYRDYMOVA

18/10/1941

Illichivsk

Ukrainian

20/03/2012

27/06/2012

600 EUR

48857/11

03/08/2011

Alla Nikolayevna CHEREDNYK

21/12/1956

Prague

Ukrainian

04/04/2012

22/07/2013

5,600 EUR

55339/11

25/08/2011

Vasiliy Anatolyevich DZIGUNSKIY

21/09/1977

Kherson

Ukrainian

09/08/2012

15/10/2012

1,200 EUR

58254/11

09/09/2011

Natalya Yevseyevna BILAN

19/04/1956

Berezivka

Ukrainian

10/05/2012

18/07/2012

1,200 EUR