FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 6578/12 Larysa Volodymyrivna BRAZHEVSKA against Ukraine

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 23 March 2023 as a Committee composed of:

Mārtiņš Mits , President , Mattias Guyomar, Mykola Gnatovskyy , judges ,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 20 January 2012,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicant, Ms Larysa Volodymyrivna Brazhevska, was born in 1951.

The applicant complained that municipal authorities’ failure to provide her family with social housing had amounted to an unlawful interference with her possessions and that the domestic courts had rejected her relevant claim without an adequate response to essential arguments.

The applicant’s complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention were communicated to the Ukrainian Government (“the Government”), who submitted observations on the admissibility and merits. In those observations, the Government informed the Court, in particular, that in 2018 the applicant had purchased a flat, having obtained monetary compensation from the municipality for the unavailability of the social housing. The observations were forwarded to the applicant, who had been granted leave to present her own case and had been invited to submit observations. No reply was received to the Registry’s letter within the allocated time-limit.

By the letter dated 30 November 2021, sent by registered post, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of her observations had expired and that no extension of time had been requested. The applicant’s attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application. The Registry did not receive a delivery slip for that letter.

In view of the interruption of the postal service to Ukraine as of 24 February 2022, several attempts were made to contact the applicant by telephone to verify whether she was still interested in pursuing the application.

On 21 December 2022 the Registry succeeded in establishing telephone connection with the applicant. She informed the Registry that she was ill and that she did not wish to take any further steps for the case to proceed, including to prepare observations or just satisfaction claims, to establish an email account for written communication with the Court, to seek legal aid, or to appoint counsel or a non-lawyer representative to assist her. She was reminded that her application may be struck out of the Court’s list of cases but she left it to the Court to decide how to proceed with the case in the absence of any procedural actions on her part.

THE LAW

Regard being had to the information from the Government - not contested by the applicant - that she was paid compensation for the municipality’s failure to provide her with social housing and purchased a flat, and taking into account her procedural conduct indicating lack of interest in pursuing the application, as well as considering absence of any special circumstances regarding respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention and the Protocols thereto, the Court, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application.

Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Done in English and notified in writing on 13 April 2023.

Viktoriya Maradudina Mārtiņš Mits Acting Deputy Registrar President