Communicated on 15 September 2016

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 43391/16 Zorica TURKOVIĆ and others against Croatia lodged on 22 July 2016

STATEMENT OF FACTS

A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They all live in the same household in Zagreb and are represented before the Court by Ms L. Horvat , a lawyer practising in Zagreb.

The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.

The applicants live in vicinity of a waste disposal site Jaku Å¡ evac .

The waste disposal site was first created in 1965 but due to mismanagement of the resources it has significantly spread. At present, the applicants ’ house is only 350 metres away from the waste disposal site. Since 2010 the waste disposal site has operated without a proper operating permit.

According to a study published in 2010, there is a significant risk of an ecological disaster emanating from the waste disposal site, particularly relating to the contamination of water. Several newspaper articles also reported on the ecological problems related to the site, in particular on a possible explosion at the site and a fire that recently broke out there.

In 2013 the Ministry of Ecology ( Ministarstvo za š tite okoli š a i prirode ) informed the public on the Internet that it would respond to the numerous complaints concerning the waste disposal site Jakuševac by conducting an extraordinary coordinated supervision of the site together with other competent authorities.

On 29 May 2014 the fifth applicant lodged a criminal complaint with the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney ’ s Office ( Op ć insko državno odvjetni š tvo u Zagrebu ) alleging that due to various illegal garbage disposals, the Jakuševac site had spread to the vicinity of his house and posed a threat to the lives and well-being of all individuals living in its vicinity. He therefore asked the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney ’ s Office to investigate the circumstances of the case and to take the necessary measures against those responsible.

Notwithstanding his repeated attempts to urge the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney ’ s Office to take the necessary measures concerning his complaints, no decision has been adopted so far and the only action taken was his interview by the police concerning his criminal complaint.

In July 2016 the other applicants informed the Zagreb Municipal State Attorney ’ s Office that they would participate as victims in the case instituted upon the fifth applicant ’ s criminal complaint.

Meanwhile, in June 2016 the applicants had urged the Ministry of Ecology to conduct an inquiry into the situation in the waste disposal site as announced in 2013. They also complained to various other competent State bodies (Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Spatial Planning, Ministry of Agriculture) concerning the situation in the waste disposal site.

So far the applicants have received no reply concerning their complaints.

COMPLAINTS

The applicants complain, under Articles 8 and 13 of the Convention, of the lack of an effective reaction by the domestic authorities to their arguable allegations of an ecological disaster threatening from a nearby waste disposal site.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Has there been a violation of the applicants ’ right to respect for their home and private and family life in the present case, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention?

2. Did the applicants have at their disposal an effective domestic remedy for their complaints under Article 8 of the Convention, as required under Article 13 of the Convention?

The Government are invited to submit copies of all relevant documents concerning the applicants ’ case.

Appendix