FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 30346/11 Robert KISIEL against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights ( Fourth Section ), sitting on 12 November 2013 as a Committee composed of:

George Nicolaou , President, Zdravka Kalaydjieva , Faris Vehabović , judges , and Fatoş Aracı , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 10 May 2011 ,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicant, Mr Robert Kisiel , is a Polis h national, who was born in 1968 and lives in Brzezówka . He was represented before the Court by Mr H. Streit , a lawyer practising in Rzeszow . The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms J. Chrzanowska of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The applicant was a journalist of a local newspaper published in Ropczyce . On 3 December 2008 the newspaper published the article entitled “Slave Traders” ( Handlarze niewolników ). The article informed the public about a criminal case concerning charges related to a large-scale human trafficking scheme carried out by way of recruiting employees for work abroad under false pretences . That case was at the time pending before the Kraków Regional Court. Subsequently, o ne of the accused brought before the Rzeszów Regional Court a civil action against the applicant and the newspaper ’ s editor-in-chief for the protection of his personal rights within the meaning of Articles 24 and 25 of the Civil Code. He requested the court to make an award of compensation in the amount of 30,000 Polish zlotys (PLN) and to order the applicant to publish apologies . O n 12 May 2010 the Rzeszów Regional Court dismissed the claim. The plaintiff appealed.

On 17 March 2011 the Rzeszów Court of Appeal amended the contested judgment in that it ordered the applicant and the editor to pay, jointly, PLN 30,000 to the defendant. It further ordered them to pay PLN 3,768 in various court costs and legal fees . The court shared the assessment made by the lower court that the plaintiff ’ s personal rights had been breached by the impugned article . The applicant paid the damages whereas the editor ‑ in ‑ chief contributed to the payment of the court costs and legal fees.

The applicant complain ed under Article 10 of t he Convention that the judgments of the civil court given in his case amounted to a breach of his freedom of expression.

On 7 August and 19 September 2013 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Poland in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay him PLN 36,000 (thirty-six thousand Polish zlotys) to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant.

That amount will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court to strike the case out of its list of cases . 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.

Fatoş Aracı George Nicolaou Deputy Registrar President