SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 18734/05 by Branislav V. PETKOVI Ć against Serbia

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 14 December 2010 as a Committee composed of:

András Sajó , President, Dragoljub Popović , Kristina Pardalos , judges, and Françoise Elens-Passos , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 13 May 2005,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The application was lodged by Mr Branislav V. Petkovi ć , a Serbian national who was born in 1932 and lives in Knja ž evac . The Government of Serbia (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr S. Cari ć .

The applicant complained about the continuing refusal of the respondent State to release all of his foreign currency savings, together with the interest originally stipulated. The applicant further noted that he had not collected the interest accrued on the basis of his successive fixed-term deposit contracts, having instead decided to redeposit these amounts, and argued that he should not therefore have been placed in the same situation as those persons who had actually withdrawn their interest.

The applicant ’ s complaint concerning the refusal of the respondent State to release all of his foreign currency savings was communicated to the Government, who submitted their observations on the admissibility and merits. The observations were forwarded to the applicant, who was, invited to submit his own observations. No reply was received to the Registry ’ s letter.

By letter dated 9 July 2010 , sent by registered post, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of his observations had expired on 25 September 2009 and that no extension of time had been requested. Nevertheless, he was invited to comply with the previous request by 6 August 2010 . The applicant ’ s attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike a case out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not in tend to pursue the application. The applicant received this letter on 14 July 2010 . However, no response has been received.

THE LAW

The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue his application, within the meaning of 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 the application out of its list of cases.

Françoise Elens - Passos András Sajó Deputy Registrar President