FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 36863/07 Donka Kirilova PETROVA and Dimo Petrov PETROV against Bulgaria

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 10 May 2012 as a Committee composed of:

Päivi Hirvelä , President, Ledi Bianku , Nebojša Vučinić , judges, and Fatoş Aracı , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 19 July 2007,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicants, Ms Donka Kirilova Petrova and Mr Dimo Petrov Petrov , are Bulgarian nationals who were both born in 1958 and live in Burgas . They were represented before the Court by Ms S. Margaritova-Vuchkova , a lawyer practising in Sofia . The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms N. Nikolova , of the Ministry of Justice.

On 30 September 2010 the President of the Fifth Section of the Court decided to communicate the applicants ’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention concerning the length of civil proceedings and the lack of effective remedies in this regard. The applicants ’ complaints under Articles 6 § 1, 13 and 14 of the Conve ntion and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, relating to an alleged arbitrary deprivation of property without adequate compensation, initially being part of application no. 36863/07, were subsequently registered under a new number, 11186/12, for technical reasons.

THE LAW

On 18 November 2010 and 2 March 2011 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to the communicated complaints against an undertaking by the Government to pay them 7,500 euros jointly, which would cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, as well as costs and expenses, and would be free of any taxes that may be applicable, to be converted into the national currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement . The sum would 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 the sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them 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 would constitute the final resolution of the case.

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 (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). 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.

Fatoş Aracı Päivi Hirvelä Deputy Registrar President