Lexploria

FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 30351/06 Lyudmila Aleksandrovna VLASOVA and others against Russia and 32 other applications (see list appended)

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 18 September 2012 as a Committee composed of:

Peer Lorenzen , President, Khanlar Hajiyev , Julia Laffranque , judges, and André Wampach , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on dates tabulated in the appendix below,

Having regard to the declaration submitted by the respondent Government on 22 September 2010 requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases and the applicants ’ replies to that declaration,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicants are one hundred and one Russian nationals whose names and dates of birth are tabulated in the appendix below. Ms Myasina (case no. 2409/07) is not represented in the proceedings before the Court. The rest of the applicants are represented by Mr I.V. Novikov , a lawyer practising in Novosibirsk . The Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr G. Matyushkin , the Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.

In the course of the proceedings, Ms Kuntseva (application no 5686/07) passed away. On 18 December 2011, a Chamber decided that Mr N.V. Kuntsev , who is the late applicant ’ s son, had standing to continue the proceedings before the Court in his late mother ’ s stead.

The facts of the cases, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

All the applicants are pensioners. They successfully sued the pension authorities for miscalculating their pensions. Subsequently, on the authorities ’ initiative, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Yakutiya quashed the final judgments by way of supervisory review to the applicants ’ detriment on the ground of misinterpretation of the material law.

COMPLAINTS

The applicants complained under Article 6 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about quashing of judgments in their favour by way of supervisory review.

THE LAW

The applicants complained about quashing of final and enforceable judgments in their favour by way of supervisory review. They relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 which, in so far as relevant, provide as follows:

Article 6 § 1 of the Convention

“In the determination of his [or her] civil rights and obligations [ ... ], everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law [ ... ]”

Article 1 of Protocol No. 1

“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.”

By letter dated 22 September 2010 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issue raised by the application s in all cases except for three applicants in application no. 11884/07, namely Ms N.A. Dyachenko , Mr M.N. Dyachenko and Ms L.S. Sukhova . They further requested the Court to strike out the application s in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.

In that declaration, the Government acknowledged the violation of the applicants ’ rights under the Convention on account of the quashing of the binding judgments on the ground of misinterpretation of substantial law by way of supervisory review. The Government mentioned that the judgments in the applicants ’ favour had been fully complied with prior to their quashing by way of supervisory review. The Government undertook to pay each applicant concerned 1,400 euros (EUR) as compensation for damage resulting from the violations mentioned above.

The reminder of their declaration reads as follows:

“The sum referred to above, which is to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. It will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on it from 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.

This payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.”

In a letter of 2 December 2010, the applicants represented by Mr Novikov disagreed with the Government ’ s suggestion to strike their cases out, insisting on examination of their complaints. They seem to complain about the unlawful termination of payment of pensions at a rate fixed by the judgments in their favour. They pointed out that arrears on payment amounted to around 80,000 Russian roubles with regard to each applicant, without submitting any documents in support of this sum. In addition, they contested the amounts proposed by the Government for non ‑ pecuniary damage. In a letter of 13 November 2010, Ms Myasina indicated that the Government still had judgment debt, without submitting any documents in support of this allegation.

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 application”.

It also recalls that in certain circumstances, it may strike out an application under Article 37 § 1(c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicant wishes the examination of the case 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 (see, Tahsin Acar v. Turkey (preliminary issue) [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, 18 September 2007).

Turning to the Government ’ s unilateral declarations, the Court observes that the judgments providing the applicants with an enforceable claim were quashed by way of supervisory review. The Court is satisfied that the quashing of binding and enforceable judgments in the applicants ’ favour is explicitly acknowledged by the Government as violating the Convention.

As regards the pecuniary damage sustained by the applicants, the Court notes that according to the Government, the judgments in the applicants ’ favour were fully executed prior to their quashing. The Government provided documents supporting those payments. As far as the applicants ’ replies to the declaration can be understood as contesting the fact of those payments, the Court cannot accept this argument as they did not provide any documentary evidence. Thus it admits that the judgments in the applicants ’ favour were fully enforced by the Russian authorities until the moment of their quashing.

The Court recalls that after the final judgments were quashed they ceased to exist under domestic law; it cannot restore the power of these judgments nor assume the role of the national authorities in awarding social benefits for the future (see, among other authorities, Tarnopolskaya and Others v. Russia , nos. 11093/07 et al. , § 51, 7 July 2009). Consequently, no pecuniary awards for the periods after the quashing could be legitimately claimed by the applicants before the Court.

As far as compensation for the non-pecuniary damage is concerned, the Court notes that the relevant sums offered by the Government are comparable with Court ’ s awards in similar cases (see Ryabov and 151 other “Privileged pensioners” cases v. Russia , nos. 4563/07 et al., § 23, 17 December 2009, and Streltsov and other “Novocherkassk military pensioners” cases v. Russia , nos. 8549/06 et al., § 96, 29 July 2010).

Having regard to the nature of the admissions contained in the Government ’ s declarations, as well as the amounts 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)).

In light of the above considerations, and given also the clear and extensive case-law on the topic (see, for example, Kulkov and Others v. Russia , nos. 25114/03 et al., 8 January 2009, and Pugach and Others v. Russia , nos. 31799/08 et al., 4 November 2010), 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 ).

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case s out of the list, except for the case of Ms N.A. Dyachenko , Mr M.N. Dyachenko and Ms L.S. Sukhova (application no. 11884/07).

As regards Ms N.A. Dyachenko , Mr M.N. Dyachenko and Ms L.S. Sukhova who are the applicants in application no. 11884/07, the Court notes that the judgments in their favour have been quashed on 27 July 2006 and the applicants lodged their application on 9 February 2007. Nothing in the applicants ’ submissions indicates that they were not immediately aware of the ruling. It follows that the part of application no. 11884/07 concerning these applicants is introduced out of time and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention (see Sardin v. Russia ( dec .), no. 69582/01 , ECHR 2004 ‑ II) .

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to join the applications;

Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government ’ s declarations under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and of the modalities for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein with regard to all applicants except for Ms N.A. Dyachenko , Mr M.N. Dyachenko and Ms L.S. Sukhova (application no. 11884/07);

Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention, except for application no. 11884/07 with regard to Ms N.A. Dyachenko , Mr M.N. Dyachenko and Ms L.S. Sukhova ;

Decides to declare inadmissible application no. 11884/07 with regard to Ms N.A. Dyachenko , Mr M.N. Dyachenko and Ms L.S. Sukhova in accordance with Article 35 § 1 of the Convention.

André Wampach Peer Lorenzen Deputy Registrar President

No.

Application No.

Lodged on

Applicant

Date of birth

Place of residence

Compensation offered (EUR)

30351/06

17/06/2006

Lyudmila Aleksandrovna VLASOVA

05/11/1948

Neryungri

Nadezhda Leonidovna MERZLYAKOVA

18/09/1950

Neryungri

Nina Mikhaylovna BARNOVSKAYA

14/03/1949

Neryungri

Valentina Borisovna MANZANOVA

05/11/1945

Neryungri

Aida Ivanovna MERKULOVA

02/01/1930

Neryungri

Yevgeniy Ivanovich AGARKOV

12/01/1946

Neryungri

Aleksandr Pavlovich DOROZHKOV

20/09/1950

Neryungri

Valentina Andreyevna MILOVANOVA

15/12/1944

Neryungri

Tatyana Pavlovna BROVTSYNA

23/07/1945

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

30353/06

17/06/2006

Ivan Pavlovich BOSIKOV

15/06/1946

Neryungri

Valentina Vasilyevna RYABOVA

15/11/1945

Neryungri

Ivan Sergeyevich POCHATOVSKIY

04/07/1947

Neryungri

Valentina Fedorovna POCHATOVSKAYA

15/06/1950

Neryungri

Valentina Petrovna KUPTSOVA

03/09/1951

Neryungri

Vera Fedorovna VISHNEVSKAYA

24/02/1948

Neryungri

Lyudmila Viktorovna TSVETKOVA

01/04/1952

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

33264/06

17/06/2006

Lyubov Vasilyevna TANKOVID

16/07/1951

Neryungri

Marina Petrovna PODLESNAYA

09/10/1952

Nerungri

Aleksandr Panteleymonovich SHIRYAYEV

22/04/1947

Neryungri

Zinaida Vadimovna SHIRYAYEVA

07/11/1946

Neryungri

Lyubov Dubdanovna AYUROVA

05/12/1952

Neryungri

Nikolay Vasilyevich ALEKSANDROV

03/01/1946

Neryungri

Galina Yuryevna SEDIK

23/01/1950

Neryungri

Anna Nikolayevna PODGORNAYA

30/03/1951

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

33269/06

17/06/2006

Tatyana Kuzminichna AZYAZOVA

19/08/1951

Neryungri

Aleksey Stepanovich BALYKIN

10/04/1949

Neryungri

Valentina Semenovna BALYKINA

27/06/1945

Neryungri

Yevgeniya Dymbrenovna ZODBOYEVA

07/08/1945

Neryungri

Irina Viktorovna PETROVA

11/01/1939

Neryungri

Sofiya Konstantinovna TOTSKAYA

01/08/1946

Neryungri

Vladimir Vasilyevich TOTSKIY

02/03/1943

Neryungri

Vitaliy Dmitriyevich CHUKURNA

12/01/1931

Neryungri

Valentina Fedorovna CHUKURNA

15/04/1940

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

47938/06

28/10/2006

Viktor Vasilyevich KRAYNEV

11/08/1939

Neryungri

Vera Nikolayevna KRAYNEVA

15/04/1937

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

47939/06

28/10/2006

Shamil Magafurovich ZAMALUTDINOV

21/07/1949

Neryungri

Galina Vasilyevna KROKHMAL

17/08/1954

Neryungri

Yekaterina Andreyevna BOKLAG

18/04/1957

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

49256/06

15/11/2006

Vladimir Aleksandrovich KHAKHULIN

09/09/1948

Neryungri

Galina Trofimovna VERBITSKAYA

12/03/1959

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

2409/07

11/12/2006

Vera Aleksandrovna MYASINA

03/04/1955

Novosibirsk

1,400

4590/07

11/12/2006

Gennadiy Petrovich GREDASOV

29/04/1949

Neryungri

1,400

5077/07

28/10/2006

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich GOLOVACH

11/09/1954

Neryungri

1,400

5391/07

22/10/2006

Fanziya Shakirovna GAZIMULLINA

14/05/1951

Neryungri

1,400

5461/07

11/12/2006

Mikhail Ivanovich YEFIMOV

21/02/1955

Neryungri

Viktoriya Nikolayevna VLASOVA

06/10/1954

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

5463/07

01/12/2006

Vera Grigoryevna POLIKARPOVA

07/11/1957

Neryungri

Valentina Mikhaylovna PESTEREVA

07/09/1953

Neryungri

Andrey Pavlovich PLASTOVETS

23/11/1948

Neryungri

Lidiya Spiridonovna KOROLKOVA

01/08/1952

Neryungri

Galina Vladimirovna MOSHINSKAYA

02/12/1954

Neryungri

Nina Yefimovna SHMAKOVA

13/11/1954

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

5646/07

11/12/2006

Vladimir Pertovich PUTINTSEV

04/01/1946

Neryungri

Olga Radionovna PELIPAS

17/10/1949

Neryungri

Valentina Pavlovna BORISENKO

15/12/1939

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

5686/07

11/12/2006

Yelena Vasilyevna KUNTSEVA

12/10/1954

Neryungri

1,400 [1]

7311/07

25/01/2007

Petr Ivanovich NESKOROMNYKH

11/06/1949

Neryungri

1,400

7832/07

26/01/2007

Valentina Mikhaylovna KOMISSAROVA

18/11/1949

Neryungri

Yelena Nikolayevna NIKOLAYEVA

09/01/1947

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

7848/07

26/01/2007

Galina Mikhaylovna BELYAK

05/03/1954

Neryungri

1,400

10135/07

08/02/2007

Anatoliy Vissarionovich ALEKSEYEV

28/11/1943

Neryungri

Anatloy Ivanovich KOSHKAROVSKIY

10/07/1941

Neryungri

Zinaida Ivanovna KULKOVA

10/04/1946

Neryungri

Lyudmila Pavlovna MOLODTSOVA

05/05/1953

Neryungri

Anna Avtomonovna SELIVERSTOVA

17/12/1952

Neryungri

Vasiliy Ivanovich SHCHEGOLSKIY

29/03/1955

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

10137/07

11/02/2007

Viktor Ostafiyevich SIDORENKO

06/02/1950

Neryungri

1,400

10138/07

09/02/2007

Nina Vladimirovna MONAKHOVA

27/03/1960

Neryungri

1,400

11331/07

05/02/2007

Lyubov Petrovna REZIKOVA

27/06/1954

Neryungri

Galina Nikiforovna BATSA

27/01/1955

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

11884/07

09/02/2007

Lyudmila Ivanovna ROMANYUK

05/01/1955

Neryungri

Olga Bayevna ABILDINOVA

01/01/1952

Neryungri

Lidiya Denisovna SALEYEVA

01/09/1948

Neryungri

Nadezhda Arkadyevna DYACHENKO

25/03/1954

Neryungri

Mikhail Nikolayevich DYACHENKO

06/11/1948

Neryungri

Lidiya Sergeyevna SUKHOVA

13/01/1954

Neryungri

1,400 to the first three applicants

11914/07

05/02/2007

Valentina Sidorovna BORZENKOVA

24/12/1952

Neryungri

Valentina Vasilyevna DUMBROVSKAYA

12/02/1946

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

11919/07

05/02/2007

Zoya Viktorovna ALESHKINA

15/03/1949

Neryungri

Olga Gennadyevna BURAKOVA

15/07/1948

Neryungri

Yuriy Grigoryevich BURAKOV

14/07/1944

Neryungri

Zhanna Vitalyevna ZAKHAROVA

15/02/1967

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

17137/07

21/03/2007

Nadezhda Viktorovna BODNAR

10/10/1953

Neryungri

Nina Nikolayevna SHIBKA

27/11/1955

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

17140/07

21/03/2007

Minzilya Miniakhmetovna KAMALOVA

09/08/1962

Neryungri

Rafit Rashitovich KAMALOV

01/01/1958

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

17145/07

21/03/2007

Tamara Ivanovna KORCHASHKINA

17/07/1949

Neryungri

1,400

17644/07

15/03/2007

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich GUSEV

15/12/1954

Neryungri

Yuriy Anatolyevich ROMANENKO

14/11/1954

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

17645/07

15/03/2007

Valentina Petrovna YEROKHINA

24/03/1958

Neryungri

1,400

27386/07

08/06/2007

Vladimir Anatolyevich BADULIN

21/02/1936

Nerungri

Valentina Fedorovna BADULINA

30/10/1937

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

3361/08

04/12/2007

Yuriy Borisovich ZHILYABIN

06/05/1941

Neryungri

Yekaterina Pavlovna ZHILYABINA

17/11/1942

Neryungri

Lyudmila Vasilyevna KLIMOVICH

13/03/1947

Neryungri

Galina Stepanovna NEZHINA

28/12/1950

Neryungri

Valentina Konstantinovna AKHMETOVA

19/09/1949

Neryungri

Zoya Ivanovna BURDA

25/11/1935

Neryungri

Raisa Nikitichna GANTIMUROVA

29/03/1940

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

10611/08

28/12/2007

Galina Nikolayevna PUNTUSOVA

03/10/1951

Neryungri

Aleksandr Yakovlevich PUNTUSOV

03/11/1950

Neryungri

1,400 to each applicant

[1] This amount is to be paid to Mr Kuntsev Nikita Vitalyevich

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VLASOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

VLASOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

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