FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 43917/17 Temenuzhka Kochova STOILKOVA and Others against Bulgaria

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 9 December 2021 as a Committee composed of:

Armen Harutyunyan, President, Jolien Schukking, Ana Maria Guerra Martins, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 15 June 2017,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.

Two of the applicants died after the institution of the proceedings before the Court (see the appended table) and their heirs stated that they wished to pursue the proceedings. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) have accepted the heirs’ locus standi .

The complaints raised by the applicants under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 concerning the excessive duration of restitution proceedings were communicated to the Government.

On 26 July and 28 October 2021, the Court received friendly-settlement declarations signed by the parties, under which the applicants (respectively, their heirs) agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to this application, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them jointly EUR 4,500, to be distributed in accordance with their inheritance shares, and to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, as well as costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant party. This amount will be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay this amount within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake 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 parties agreed that such payment would constitute the final resolution of the case.

THE LAW

The Court firstly takes note of the information regarding the death of the two applicants and the wish of their heirs to continue the proceedings in their stead, as well as the absence of an objection on the Government’s part to their standing. Therefore, the Court considers that the heirs of Ms Stoilkova and Ms Gancheva, as indicated in the table below, have a legitimate interest in pursuing the application.

The Court then 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 the Protocols thereto 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 that the heirs of the late applicants, Ms Stoilkova and Ms Gancheva, have locus standi in the proceedings;

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 13 January 2022.

Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1

(excessive duration of restitution proceedings)

No.

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

For deceased applicants, names of heirs

Temenuzhka Kochova STOILKOVA

1935Passed away on 27 August 2018

Heir: Vesela Georgieva Nikolova

Violeta Kochova GANCHEVA

1932Passed away on 10 January 2018

Heirs: Dimitar Kostadonov Ganchev and Penka Kostadonova Savich

Siyka Kocheva PEHLIVANOVA

1939