MRKIC proti Chorvatsku

FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 7118/03
by Milan and Katica MRKIĆ
against Croatia

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 30 November 2006 as a Chamber composed of:

Mr C.L. Rozakis, President,
Mrs N. Vajić,
Mr A. Kovler,
Mrs E. Steiner,
Mr K. Hajiyev,
Mr D. Spielmann,
Mr S.E. Jebens, judges,
and Mr S. Nielsen, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 5 February 2003,

Having regard to the decision to apply the procedure under Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and examine the admissibility and merits of the case together,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicants, Mr Milan Mrkić and Mrs Katica Mrkić, are Croatian nationals who were born in 1925 and 1936 respectively, and live in Karlovac. The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs Š. Stažnik.

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

In 1972 the applicants acquired a specially protected tenancy (stanarsko pravo) of a flat in Karlovac.

On 9 November 1992 the insurance company C.O. (the owner and provider of the flat) brought a civil action against the applicants in the Karlovac Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Karlovcu) for termination of their specially protected tenancy.

On 14 November 1996 the Municipal Court delivered a judgment for the plaintiff. The applicants appealed.

On 6 March 1997 the Karlovac County Court (Županijski sud u Karlovcu) dismissed the applicants’ appeal and upheld the first-instance judgment.

The applicants’ appeal on points of law (revizija) was dismissed by the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske) on 12 October 1999.

The applicants then lodged a constitutional complaint. On 12 March 2004 the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) declared their complaint inadmissible.

COMPLAINT

The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of the proceedings.

THE LAW

By letter of 12 September 2006 the applicants informed the Court that they accepted a proposal for a friendly settlement and waived any further claims against Croatia in respect of the facts of the present application.

On 12 October 2006 the Government informed the Court that the parties had reached a settlement whereby the Government would pay the applicants jointly 7,000 euros in full and final settlement of the case, costs and expenses included.

The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention). Accordingly, Article 29 § 3 of the Convention should no longer apply to the case and it should be struck out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

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

Søren Nielsen Christos Rozakis
Registrar President