N.A.A. A OSTATNÍ proti Řecku, Severní Makedonii

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 28795/16
N.A.A. and Others
against Greece and North Macedonia

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 4 September 2025 as a Committee composed of:

Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, President,
Mateja Đurović,
Vasilka Sancin, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 22 June 2016,

Having regard to the decision to grant the applicants anonymity under Rule 47 § 4 of the Rules of Court,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.

The applicants were represented by Ms E.-L. Koutra, a lawyer practising in Athens.

The case concerns 2016 events at the makeshift camp of Idomeni and on the border between Greece and North Macedonia. On 17 May 2024 the applicants’ complaints under Articles 3 and 8 were communicated to the Governments of Greece and North Macedonia (“the Governments”), who submitted observations on the admissibility and merits on 14 February and 16 January 2025, respectively. The observations were forwarded to the applicants, who were invited to submit their own observations.

On 10 April 2025 the applicants’ representative informed the Court that she was no longer in contact with the applicants and requested an extension of the time-limit for submission of observations to re-establish the contact and submit the observations.

The extension was granted for one month and the representative was reminded of the importance of maintaining contact between a representative and the applicants throughout the proceedings before the Court (see V.M. and Others v. Belgium (strike out) [GC], no. 60125/11, §§ 35-41, 17 November 2016). Her attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application.

On 9 May 2025, without submitting any observations, the representative informed the Court that the contact with the applicants has not been restored. On 17 and 18 June 2025 respectively the Governments of Greece and North Macedonia commented on the representative’s submissions arguing that the case must be struck out of the list.

No updates from the representative arrived since 9 May 2025 and the applicants never attempted to contact the Court directly.

THE LAW

In the light of the foregoing, and in the absence of any special circumstances regarding respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention and the Protocols thereto, the Court, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application.

Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.

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 25 September 2025.

Viktoriya Maradudina Úna Ní Raifeartaigh
Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applicants