AGAYEVA proti Ázerbajdžánu

FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 8075/11
Solmaz AGAYEVA
against Azerbaijan

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 28 September 2023 as a Committee composed of:

Krzysztof Wojtyczek, President,
Lətif Hüseynov,
Ivana Jelić, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 21 January 2011,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicant, Ms Solmaz Alasgar gizi Agayeva, was born in 1931. She was represented by Mr F. Mammadov, a lawyer based in Azerbaijan.

On 19 October 2017 the applicant’s complaints under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention concerning the alleged breach of her right to a fair trial and right to peaceful enjoyment of her possessions were communicated to the Azerbaijani Government (“the Government”).

On 8 December 2017 the applicant’s son, Mr Elshan Agayev, informed the Registry that the applicant had died on 17 May 2015 and expressed his interest in pursuing the application before the Court.

THE LAW

The Court must establish whether Mr Agayev has standing to pursue the application following the applicant’s death.

In this connection, the Court reiterates that, where the applicant has died after the application was lodged, it has accepted that the next-of-kin or heir may in principle pursue the application, provided that he or she has sufficient interest in the case (see, for example, Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu v. Romania [GC], no. 47848/08, § 97, ECHR 2014, with further references).

Having examined the material submitted, the Court is unable to conclude that Mr Agayev has demonstrated sufficient interest in pursuing the present application. He does not appear to have been aware of the fact that the applicant had lodged an application with the Court. Mr Agayev informed the Registry of the death almost two years and six months after it, and that only once he was apprised of the fact that the Government had been put on notice of the complaints (compare Goranov v. Bulgaria (dec.) [Committee], no. 47687/07, 2 July 2013). Moreover, he failed to provide any valid reason for not being able to inform the Court in a timely manner about it (compare Sokolova v. Russia (dec.) [Committee], no. 30619/08, 7 April 2022, and Zhirnov v. Russia (dec.) [Committee], no. 71299/17, 6 October 2022).

Against this background, the Court finds that the request to pursue the proceedings was submitted by a person who has failed to provide evidence of his legitimate interest to pursue the application (see Romanov v. Russia (dec.) [Committee], no. 35627/14, 6 October 2022, with further references).

Lastly, the Court considers that respect for human rights does not require it to continue the examination of the present case.

In the light of the foregoing, and in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention, the Court finds that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application and concludes that the application should be struck out of its list of cases.

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 19 October 2023.

Viktoriya Maradudina Krzysztof Wojtyczek
Acting Deputy Registrar President