GEORGIEV A OSTATNÍ proti Bulharsku

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 46217/19
Krasimir Vasilev GEORGIEV against Bulgaria
and 4 other applications

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 7 October 2021 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 indicated in the appended table, and

the declaration submitted by the respondent Government requesting the Court to strike the applications out of its list of cases, and the applicants’ replies to that declaration,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of the applicants and their respective representatives is set out in the appended table.

The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applicants’ complaints under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention concerning the allegedly inhuman and degrading conditions of the applicants’ detention and the alleged lack of an effective remedy in that respect.

The Government submitted a unilateral declaration in which they acknowledged the violations of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention, and offered to pay the applicants the amounts set out in the appended table. On that basis, they invited the Court to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. The amounts would be converted into Bulgarian levs 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. In the event of failure to pay those amounts within that 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 applicants informed the Court that they agreed to the terms of the Government’s declaration.

THE LAW

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

In the light of the applicants’ express agreement to the terms of the declaration made by the Government, the parties to each of the cases may be considered to have reached a friendly settlement.

The Court takes note of those friendly settlements. It is satisfied that they are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto, and finds no reasons to justify 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 28 October 2021.

{signature_p_2}

Viktoriya Maradudina Armen Harutyunyan
Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention
(allegedly inhuman and degrading conditions of detention and alleged lack of an effective remedy in that respect)

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

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