DURGOV A OSTATNÍ proti Bulharsku

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 28120/20
Dimitar Georgiev DURGOV against Bulgaria
and 5 other applications
(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 8 September 2022 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 applications lodged on the various dates set out in the appended table; and

the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicants is set out in the appended table. The applicants were represented by Mr V. Stoyanov, a lawyer practicing in Pazardzhik.

The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applicants’ complaints under Article 3 of the Convention concerning the allegedly inhuman and degrading conditions of their detention.

The Court received friendly-settlement declarations, signed by the parties, under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Bulgaria in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them the sums set out in the appended table. These sums would be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision to strike the applications out of its list of cases. In the event of failure to pay these sums within this three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them, 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 payment would constitute the final resolution of the cases.

THE LAW

In view of the similar subject matter of the applications, it is appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Court takes note of the friendly settlements reached between the parties. It is satisfied that these settlements are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols, and finds no reasons justifying the continued examination of the applications.

It is hence appropriate to strike the cases out of the Court’s list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 § 3 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 29 September 2022.

Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan
Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(inadequate conditions of detention)

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants

[2] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants