Published on 25 October 2021

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 52572/18 Mitko ZHEZHOVSKI against North Macedonia lodged on 1 November 2018 communicated on 4 October 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns proceedings for counter-enforcement ( противизвршување ). The first-instance court decision of 7 November 2013 ordered the applicant to pay the costs of the proceedings to the respondent party. On 7 October 2017 this decision was quashed by the Court of Appeal.

On 21 July 2017 the applicant lodged a claim for counter-enforcement against the respondent party, seeking reimbursement of the funds which he had paid for the legal costs following the decision of 7 November 2013. On 22 January 2018, after several remittals, the first-instance court partially granted the applicant’s claim. On 20 April 2018 the Court of Appeal overturned this decision finding that there had been no evidence that the decision of 7 November 2013 had been finally quashed. This decision was served on the applicant on 2 May 2018.

The applicant lodged a request for reopening of the proceedings arguing that he had sent a copy of the Court of Appeal’s decision of 17 October 2017 to the first-instance court, which proved that the decision of 7 November 2013 had been finally quashed, but that the courts had disregarded this evidence. On 3 July 2018 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s request for reopening.

The applicant complains under Article 6 that the domestic courts dismissed his request for counter-enforcement and disregarded the Court of Appeal’s decision of 17 October 2017 which had quashed the first-instance decision which had served as the basis for his payment of the respondent party’s legal costs.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of his civil rights and obligations, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, were the domestic courts’ judgments adopted in the proceedings for counter-enforcement arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable (see Khamidov v. Russia , no. 72118/01, § 170, 15 November 2007; Anđelković v. Serbia , no. 1401/08, § 24, 9 April 2013; and Pavlović and Others v. Croatia , no. 13274/11, § 45, 2 April 2015)?