Přehled
Rozhodnutí
FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 56966/09
Stelian ŞTEFĂNESCU against Romania
and 18 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 5 July 2018 as a Committee composed of:
Vincent A. De Gaetano, President,
Georges Ravarani,
Marko Bošnjak, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
1. The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
2. The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol No. 1 concerning the non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic judgments were communicated to the Romanian Government (“the Government”). In application no. 56966/09 the applicant also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
A. Joinder of the applications
3. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
B. Complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol No. 1 (non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic judgments)
1. Preliminary issues
4. As concerns application no. 75623/13 the Government raised a preliminary objection, arguing that the application should be dismissed as incompatible ratione personae. In this connection the Government submitted that the judgment in the applicant’s favor was enforced within a period of 3 years and 7 months. The domestic courts awarded the applicant compensation for the delayed enforcement of the said judgment.
5. The applicant did not bring any arguments capable of disproving these facts.
6. Comparing the compensation granted at domestic level in the present case with the amounts awarded by the Court for comparable delayed enforcement of domestic judgments in similar cases (see Trofim v. Romania (just satisfaction), no. 1193/08, § 15, 3 March 2015), the Court considers that the amount awarded to the applicant cannot be regarded as unreasonable.
7. In the light of the above, the Court finds that the national authorities have acknowledged and then afforded redress for the alleged breach of the Convention. It follows that the applicant can no longer claim to be the victim of a violation of the Convention within the meaning of Article 34 (see Shikunov v. Russia (dec.), no. 23211/04, § 18, 23 January 2018), that the Government’s objection must be upheld and that this application is to be rejected pursuant to Articles 34 and 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4.
8. In respect of applications nos. 61627/14 and 34904/15, the Government submitted that the complaints of some of the applicants, namely Mr Cristian Ștefănescu Zamfir (application no. 61627/14), Mr Niculae Apostol and Mr Grigore Banu (application no. 34904/15) should be dismissed as incompatible ratione personae. In this connection the Government pointed out that these applicants were not parties in the domestic proceedings and could not, therefore, claim to be victims of the alleged violations of the Convention.
9. The applicants did not address this preliminary objection.
10. In light of all the evidence before it, and in particular noting that Mr Cristian Ștefănescu Zamfir, Mr Niculae Apostol and Mr Grigore Banu were not parties in the domestic proceedings, the Court considers that the Government’s objection as regards these applicants’ lack of legal standing must be upheld. It follows that applications nos. 61627/14 and 34904/15 are incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention in respect of the three aforementioned applicants, within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention (see Yavorovenko and Others v. Ukraine, no. 25663/02, §§ 19-21, 17 July 2014).
11. The Court finds that it does not need to rule on the rest of the preliminary objections raised by the Government, because the complaints in the remaining applications are inadmissible in any event, as presented below.
2. Remaining applications
12. Having examined all the material before it, the Court considers that, for the reasons stated below, the respondent Government cannot be held liable for the non-enforcement or the delayed enforcement of the judgments given in the applicants’ favour in the remaining applications.
13. In respect of applications nos. 61627/14, 34904/15, 16114/16, 29599/16 and 29629/16 the Court notes that on 6 December 2013 the debtor company was declared bankrupt and the Brăila County Court duly acknowledged the “objective impossibility” to enforce the outstanding judgment. Therefore, the applicants had become aware that there was no realistic hope of a favourable outcome or progress of the enforcement proceedings at the domestic level on 6 December 2013, more than six months before they lodged their applications with the Court (see Sokolov and Others v. Serbia (dec.), no. 30859/10, § 29, 14 January 2014). It follows that these applications were submitted too late and they must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
14. In respect of applications nos. 56966/09 and 2113/14 the Court notes the existence of an objective impossibility of enforcing the judgments in the applicants’ favour (see Ciobanu and Others v. Romania (dec.), nos. 898/06 and 3 others, § 27, 6 September 2011).
15. In applications nos. 64930/14, 77000/14, 9404/15 and 14110/15, the Court notes that the judgments in question were enforced within periods ranging from 1 month to 3 years and 7 months. However, taking into account the complexity of the enforcement proceedings, the conduct of the applicants as well as the conduct of the authorities, the Court notes that these periods are not so excessive as to raise an arguable claim under the Convention (see, for example, Şerbănescu v. Romania (dec.), no. 43638/10, §§ 9-10, 1 December 2016).
16. In application no. 68755/14, having regard to the particular context of the case, namely the amount to be paid and the domestic authorities’ assessment as to the impact of an immediate payment of the total amount, the Court considers that the measures taken by the national authorities to pay the amount due in several instalments struck a fair balance between the applicant’s rights to see the judgment enforced within a reasonable time and the public interest at stake (see Dumitru and Others v. Romania (dec.), no. 57265/08, §§ 45-52, 4 September 2012).
17. In applications nos. 54153/14, 54323/14, 60172/14 and 62295/14, in light of the particular circumstances of these cases, namely the high number of creditors and that the applicants are privileged creditors registered on the creditors’ list in liquidation proceedings which are pending, with the possibility still remaining to recover their debt, the Court finds that the enforcement delays are justified and that they are not so excessive as to raise an arguable claim under the Convention (see Murărașu v. Romania (dec.), no. 45733/10, § 33, 10 November 2015).
18. As regards applications nos. 3498/15 and 17627/15 the Court notes that the applicants did not undertake the required procedural steps in order to enforce the judgments, failing to demolish the private persons’ constructions at their expense (application no. 3498/15) and to file a timely request to register on the creditors’ list (application no. 17627/15) (see Li v. Russia, no. 38388/07, §§ 14-21, 24 April 2014).
19. In view of the above, the Court finds that the complaints as described in paragraphs 14 - 18 above are manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.
C. Remaining complaints
20. In application no. 56966/09 the applicant also raised other complaints under various articles of the Convention.
21. The Court has examined the complaints and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention.
22. It follows that these complaints must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 26 July 2018.
Liv Tigerstedt Vincent A. De Gaetano
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol No. 1
(non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic judgments)
No. | Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant name Date of birth/Date of registration | Relevant domestic judgments | Start date of non-enforcement period | End date of non-enforcement period Length of enforcement proceedings |
56966/09 15/10/2009 | Stelian Ştefănescu 01/02/1956 | Vâlcea District Court, 20/03/1998 | 02/12/1998 | pending More than 19 years and 8 months and 17 days | |
75623/13 22/11/2013 | Gabriel Popescu 18/03/1976 | Bucharest County Court, 21/04/2011 | 15/12/2011 | 28/07/2015 3 years and 7 months and 14 days | |
2113/14 18/12/2013 | S.C. VSV Invest Grup S.R.L. represented by Sorin Virgil Vamos | Cluj Napoca First Instance Court, 25/10/2011 | 06/09/2012 | pending More than 5 years and 8 months and 18 days | |
54153/14 24/07/2014 | Paul Ioniță 19/07/1963 | Dâmbovița County Court, 05/11/2009 | 02/02/2010 | pending More than 8 years and 3 months and 21 days | |
54323/14 24/07/2014 | Lavinia Marilena Ioniță 09/01/1965 | Dambovița County Court, 05/11/2009 | 02/02/2010 | pending More than 8 years and 3 months and 22 days | |
60172/14 27/08/2014 | S.C. Uzina de Reparații Târgu Jiu S.A. 21/11/1992 | Gorj County Court, 11/11/2009 | 27/05/2010 | pending 4 years and 6 months | |
61627/14 04/09/2014 (86 applicants) | Alexandru Ivan 01/01/1957 Ionel Huiu 19/12/1953 Nicușor-Mihăiță Rusu 10/05/1974 Marian Despa 30/10/1968 Nicoleta Badin (Raicu) 03/08/1961 Ovidiu Deicu 30/01/1961 Florin Gologan 20/09/1967 Anatolie Sîrbu 02/07/1967 Mitica Oiță 20/03/1959 Fănica Dragomir 21/05/1965 Marioara Luță 08/08/1959 Gheorghe Nedelcu 21/09/1960 Mihai-Carolică Parisz 17/02/1962 Viorica Duțu 04/02/1969 Petrus-Iulian Duțu 25/09/1968 Panait Mustață 22/10/1958 Costică Nedelcu 06/03/1953 Matei Teacă 02/06/1962 Ionel Irimia 19/10/1961 Ioana Petre 10/05/1958 Radu Enache 07/03/1967 Gina Dobre 17/07/1968 Alina-Elena Puiu 30/05/1969 Dora Deicu 12/10/1969 Aurel Popa 05/09/1963 Giulio Sălbatecu 01/08/1959 Gheorghe Jinga 16/09/1954 Mariana Maraloiu 23/10/1967 Eduard-Laurențiu Lambru 30/08/1973 Ionel Neagu 31/01/1978 Virgil Robitu 02/09/1954 Marian Jălăveanu 23/07/1967 Maria Hriscu 19/09/1960 Stăvărache Gheorghe 11/11/1954 Neculai Popârțac 02/12/1955 Nicu Iordăchescu 05/08/1958 Elena Stanciu 29/04/1960 Grozea Rotaru 15/06/1959 Stelică Ion 17/05/1965 Crăciunel Modreanu 05/03/1970 Ion Giuvelnic 08/08/1969 Valentina Ciornea 29/11/1968 Nicu-Leonard Raita 16/07/1964 Mihaiță-Adrian Crețu 30/01/1971 Mirela Lalu 27/05/1960 Tudorița Apostol 24/11/1969 Neculai Gavrilă 01/01/1959 Aurelia-Adelina Sărăcilă 12/12/1967 Vasile Todoran 03/09/1955 Iordan Gheorghiță 11/03/1967 Dănuț-Ionel Ciornea 02/12/1968 Ionel Mircioiu 09/04/1958 Vasile Huiu 04/09/1964 Veta Grosu 09/05/1955 Geta-Nicoleta Bălan 19/08/1972 Ionel Popescu 25/10/1967 Stănel Turtoi 26/06/1968 Angelica Datcu 26/05/1970 Claudiu Georgescu 07/01/1959 Doina Martinescu 06/08/1962 Aristide Marica 21/04/1966 Elena Popescu 30/06/1961 Simion Nan 11/06/1962 Costea Drăgan 11/05/1949 Elena Teacă 21/05/1967 Cristian-Ștefăniță Zamfir 31/01/1979 Anita Barabașa 22/02/1969 Silviu-Giovani Ana 17/08/1965 Răducu Cheleș 10/01/1972 Dumitru Ghermeni 11/04/1967 Marian Giuvelic 03/06/1973 Marioara Jinga 12/03/1955 Tache Constantin 02/02/1952 Petre Chipăilă 20/03/1953 Stamate Enache 11/07/1949 Cornelia Milea 04/04/1950 Ion Buda 17/09/1953 Georgeta Buda 31/03/1956 Viorel Panaite 12/05/1964 Violeta Cazan 14/09/1970 Radu Cîrîc 01/02/1956 Emil Stoianof 08/08/1965 Dumitru Pănuță 25/04/1952 Daniela Toma 05/05/1965 Vasile Comșa 11/02/1968 Gheorghe Sîrbu 16/05/1959 represented by Gheorghiță Pîrlog | Brăila County Court, 06/06/2011 | 10/11/2011 | pending More than 6 years and 6 months and 14 days | |
62295/14 26/08/2014 | S.C. Sinaia S.A. represented by Marian Lucu, a lawyer practising in Bucharest | Bucharest District Court, 20/03/2009 | 06/07/2010 | pending More than 7 years and 10 months and 18 days | |
64930/14 05/12/2014 | Ioan Frățiloiu 19/02/1954 | Dâmbovița County Court, 21/03/2013 | 04/09/2013 | 04/04/2017 3 years and 7 months and 1 day | |
68755/14 10/10/2014 | Vasile Dumbravă 13/08/1965 | Bucharest District Court, 26/04/2012 | 22/11/2012 | pending More than 5 years and 6 months and 7 days | |
77000/14 05/12/2014 | Ana Suciu 28/12/1932, represented by Dan-Laurențiu Molnar, a lawyer practising in Bistrița | Bistrița First Instance Court, 05/03/2014 | 10/06/2014 | 12/06/2015 1 year and 3 days | |
3498/15 07/01/2015 | Niculae Dumitru 02/07/1941 represented by Gheorghe Marinescu, a lawyer practising in Bucharest | Cornetu District Court, 20/02/2008 | 16/06/2008 | pending More than 9 years and 11 months and 8 days | |
9404/15 13/02/2015 | Anișoara Vasilescu 02/11/1957 represented by Cătălin Nicolae Pangratie, a lawyer practising in Bucharest | Teleorman County Court, 19/09/2011 | 14/03/2012 | 18/08/2014 2 years and 5 months and 5 days | |
14110/15 13/03/2015 | Gheorghe Rotariu 12/12/1966 | Timișoara Court of Appeal, 08/03/2011 | 06/06/2012 | 22/04/2015 2 years and 10 months and 17 days | |
17627/15 25/05/2015 | Viorel Prefac 16/04/1959 | Ploiești Court of Appeal, 14/12/2010 | 29/03/2012 | pending More than 6 years and 1 month and 25 days | |
34904/15 01/07/2015 (156 applicants) | Ionel Anghel 26/07/1967 Niculae Apostol 11/06/1962 Ionel Aramă 22/12/1969 Ionel Asiminei 08/03/1971 Costică Baciu 01/01/1960 Grigore Banu 28/03/1969 Emil Barac 01/01/1970 Laura-Daniela Bădașcu 24/11/1970 Victor Berbeci 03/03/1971 Chiva Berdant 24/04/1971 Nicu Berdant 06/04/1967 Tudorel Berdant 27/05/1969 Cristian-Ioan Berger 23/12/1954 Ion Bibicu 03/09/1952 Haralambie Birău 16/09/1953 Dumitru Bobi 04/07/1958 Mariana Bodea 08/02/1956 Danieluța Bucovală 11/02/1970 Ionel Burlacu 14/10/1966 Viorel Butnariu 25/06/1957 Nelu Călin 23/01/1955 Resmie Călin 14/01/1966 Fane Căcrilugăru 17/07/1965 Gheorghe Chirac 29/08/1957 Georgel Cîrstescu 27/07/1967 Ilie Ciuciu 19/03/1967 Georgeta Ciucu 11/01/1956 Stelian Ciucu 06/06/1950 Ilie Cojocea 27/03/1967 Adriana Constantin 16/12/1959 Constantin Copăceanu 17/12/1970 Cristache Crăciun 24/09/1969 Manole Cricia 22/10/1960 Marin Cristea 28/07/1950 Ștefan Cristea 30/01/1951 Gigi Croitoru 19/02/1968 Ionel Cursaru 19/12/1967 Nicoleta-Daniela Cursaru 18/04/1968 Stelică Damian 14/05/1970 Cătălin-Marian Dimcea 12/11/1967 Jenica Dimcea 21/12/1967 Sofica Dinisov 30/08/1964 Marian Dobrotă 07/07/1972 Vasile Dobrotă 18/12/1949 Aurel Drăgan 01/09/1956 Cornel Drăghici 06/08/1967 Mihail-Nelu Drăghici 25/06/1968 Ștefan Dumitrașcu 05/11/1957 Milică Dumitru 18/08/1962 Sandu Dumitru 21/08/1966 Grigore Enache 30/11/1965 Marin Enache 21/02/1956 Niță Enache 14/08/1953 Vasilica Ene 21/09/1957 Lenuța Găgeanu 26/10/1967 Săndel Găgeanu 08/02/1963 Georgel Geru 12/06/1969 Ghiorghiță Ghelase 17/02/1961 Sandu Ghenea 26/03/1961 Ionel Gheorghe 10/06/1961 Marian Gheorghe 25/09/1966 Valentin Gheorghiu 10/03/1957 Gheorghe-Lucian Gherghișan 07/12/1957 Ion Ghinea 13/01/1957 Ionel Gurău 05/08/1962 Marian Gurlea 16/06/1975 Stan Gurlea 03/11/1949 Vasile Hanganu 28/03/1951 Ionel-Leonard Hangeli 24/05/1962 Costel Hăhăianu 08/03/1961 Timofei Iacob 23/06/1955 Constantin Iconaru 03/12/1949 Victor Ioniță 29/01/1963 Liviu Ilie 08/08/1970 Tache Ilie 20/02/1968 Liviu Ioan 26/08/1967 Gabriel Jîrlăianu 06/11/1967 Cristian Lalu 17/08/1961 Louer-Lori Lăzăroiu 06/02/1972 Elena Leșu 10/03/1964 Gheorghe Marcu 06/05/1961 Alexandru Marin 11/07/1967 Daniela Marin 27/10/1968 Georgeta Matei 09/08/1956 Vasile Matei 09/01/1953 Marioara Meiroș 10/10/1964 Valentin Meiroș 07/05/1963 Florin Mihai 07/12/1968 Zaharia Mihai 13/04/1958 Anghel Mirică 15/06/1967 Gica Miron 10/06/1960 Remo Miron 04/10/1967 Vasile Miron 21/02/1952 Ion Mitache 26/07/1949 Florin-Marian Mitu 30/08/1975 Marian Mitu 12/05/1968 Dumitru Mocanu 03/08/1949 Marian Mocanu 06/11/1952 Valentina-Alina Mocanu 14/11/1970 Georgeta Mogoșiu 01/01/1954 Leonard Năstase 01/08/1967 Irimia Neacșu 05/01/1967 Ionel Neagu 26/10/1965 Petrică Neculai 16/01/1961 Nae Nica 03/03/1959 Emil Nicolae 24/11/1967 Marcel Nistor 25/03/1964 Mihaela Nistor 28/01/1968 Adrian Oprea 15/01/1971 Romel Oprea 02/07/1963 Octav-Marian Paveliu 18/09/1970 Dumitru Petre 27/01/1971 Marin Petrescu 27/06/1955 Ionel Pintilie 22/09/1958 Mărgărit Pistol 01/08/1950 Eugeniu-Valeriu Pitulice 02/05/1970 Marioara Popa 20/12/1952 Gheorghe Popîrțac 23/08/1950 Gheorghe Poterași 18/01/1959 Petrică Prică 03/03/1970 Ion Puia 30/10/1951 Viorel Radu 24/11/1974 Eugen-Luigi Rădulescu 13/04/1963 Olguța-Florentina Robu 20/01/1969 Ștefan Roman 12/10/1971 Rodica Roșculeț 13/11/1959 Titi Rusea 29/08/1967 Mihalache Sîrbu 26/02/1958 Sică Sîrbu 16/08/1973 Mihai Soare 01/01/1961 Ștefan Spânu 18/04/1953 Costel Surdu 10/06/1961 Ion Șerban 01/03/1962 Carmen Ștefan 16/12/1964 Ionel Ștefan 13/11/1961 Ion Tacea 20/03/1966 Maria Tacea 24/11/1960 Dumitru Didel Tarachiu 08/07/1967 Rodica Tarachiu 07/01/1969 Nicolae Tănase 20/08/1967 Iordan Tătaru 29/10/1956 Adrian Traian 17/02/1956 Niculae Tropcea 13/09/1949 Sorin-Adrian Trufașu 06/12/1970 Jan Tudor 20/12/1952 Mariana Tudor 18/05/1959 Carmen-Adina Tudorache 02/03/1964 Tudora Tudose 12/11/1957 Nicu Tureac 01/03/1966 Constanța Turtoi 07/01/1958 Eugen Turtoi 06/04/1959 Dorina Vasilescu 28/10/1961 Mihaela-Lilica Vlad 01/10/1976 Marioara Voicilă 07/06/1958 Corneliu Vrabie 20/03/1973 Steluța Zainea 10/02/1966 represented by Haralambie Birău, a lawyer practising in Bucharest | Galați Court of Appeal, 10/11/2011 | 10/11/2011 | pending More than 6 years and 6 months and 14 days | |
16114/16 08/02/2016 (4 applicants) | Vasilica Dobrotă 18/10/1949 Ion Oțelea 10/04/1950 Mihaela Zaieț 08/11/1965 Leon-Dorian Trandafir 27/06/1965 represented by Leon-Dorian Trandafir | Brăila County Court, 06/06/2011 | 10/11/2011 | pending More than 6 years and 6 months and 14 days | |
29599/16 16/05/2016 | Ioana Condrea 07/06/1954 Octavian Condrea 15/02/1975 | Brăila County Court, 06/06/2011 | 10/11/2011 | pending More than 6 years and 6 months and 14 days | |
29629/16 16/05/2016 | Mărioara Chiţoiu 19/06/1958 Eugen Chițoiu 24/06/1987 | Brăila County Court, 06/06/2011 | 10/11/2011 | pending More than 6 years and 6 months and 14 days |