THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 44984/07 Gocha SARIA against Georgia

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 11 September 2012 as a Committee composed of:

Ján Šikuta , President, Ineta Ziemele , Nona Tsotsoria , judges, and Marialena Tsirli , Deputy S ection Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 21 September 2007,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Gocha Saria , is a Georgian national, who was born in 1966 and lives in Zugdidi . He is represented before the Court by Mr Jason Beselia , a lawyer practising in Tbilisi . The Georgian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Levan Meskhoradze of the Ministry of Justice.

On 19 January 2012 the Court gave notice to the Government of the applicant ’ s complaints under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (c) of the Convention concerning the alleged unfairness of the criminal proceedings conducted against him.

By a letter of 15 June 2012, the applicant requested the Court to strike his application out of its list of cases. He submitted that he had been sentenced to eight years ’ imprisonment and that he had started to serve his sentence on 6 August 2005. Consequently, he had already served the major part of his penalty. The applicant further informed the Court that the respondent Government has decided to grant early release to his mother, who was convicted of a number of unidentified offences and was similarly serving a prison sentence. In view of the above considerations the applicant submitted that he did not want to pursue his application any further. The Government have been informed of the applicant ’ s withdrawal request and did not object to it.

THE LAW

The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant, as submitted in his letter of 15 June 2012, has no intention to pursue his application (Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention). Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols, which require the continued examination of the case.

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 th e application out of its list of cases.

Marialena Tsirli Ján Šikuta Deputy Registrar President