Information Note on the Court’s case-law 64

May 2004

Liadis v. Greece - 16412/02

Judgment 27.5.2004 [Section I]

Article 6

Civil proceedings

Article 6-1

Reasonable time

Numerous adjournments of hearing on account of repeated absence of applicant: no violation

Extract (Article 6 § 1): “...With regard to the parties' conduct, the Court notes that the applicant's absence was the reason for all the adjournment s of the case before the Athens Court of First Instance, with the exception of the hearing ... postponed on account of the lawyers' strike. Those adjournments, coupled with the excessive delay with which the applicant on each occasion requested that a new hearing date be fixed, were the cause of a delay of more than twenty years for which the State cannot not be held responsible. In particular, the Court notes that so long as the applicant showed no interest in resuming the proceedings before the Athens Cou rt of First Instance, the latter had no room for manoeuvre. According to the principles governing the organisation of proceedings and the responsibility of the parties, set out in Articles 106 and 108 of the Code of Civil Procedure, progress in proceedings depends entirely on the parties' diligence; if the latter abandon the proceedings temporarily or definitively, the courts cannot of their own motion oblige them to resume proceedings. This situation cannot be compared with the case of ongoing proceedings, where the courts must ensure that they follow the proper course by, for example, acting attentively when asked to agree to a request for adjournment, hear witnesses or monitor the time-limits established for the preparation of an expert's report...”

© Co uncil of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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