Słama and Others v. Poland

FIRST SECTION

Application no. 47812/17 Artur Bernard SŁAMA against Poland and 9 other applications

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 11 March 2021 as a Committee composed of:

Alena Poláčková, President, Péter Paczolay, Gilberto Felici, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

Having regard to the declarations submitted by the respondent Government requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases, and the applicants’ replies to these declarations,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

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

The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of proceedings in their cases and under Article 13 of the Convention about the lack of, or insufficient, redress for the excessive length of proceedings granted to them by the national court were communicated to the Polish Government (“the Government”).

The Government submitted declarations with a view to resolving the issues raised by these complaints. They acknowledged a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention on account of the excessive length of proceedings and a violation of Article 13 of the Convention on account of the lack of an effective remedy in domestic law in this regard. They offered to pay the applicants the amounts detailed in the appended table and invited the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. The amounts would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of a failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned 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 will constitute the final resolution of the cases.

The applicants informed the Court that they agreed to the terms of the declarations.

THE LAW

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Court finds that, following the applicants’ express agreement to the terms of the declaration made by the Government, the cases should be treated as a friendly settlement between the parties.

It therefore 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 the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify the continued examination of the applications.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the 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 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 1 April 2021.

Viktoriya Maradudina Alena Poláčková Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention

(excessive length of civil and criminal proceedings and the lack of an effective remedy in domestic law)

No.

Application no. Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Date of receipt of Government’s declaration

Date of receipt of applicant’s acceptance

Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses

per applicant/household

(in Polish Zloty PLN) [1]

47812/17

22/06/2017

Artur Bernard SŁAMA

1980

26/06/2020

05/01/2021

13,840

54892/17

20/07/2017

Marek Krzysztof RÓŻYCKI

1985

26/06/2020

07/10/2020

7,360

61076/17

21/07/2017

Household

Maria GARDYNA

1955

Tadeusz GARDYNA

1950

Waliduda Sławomir

Wrocław

26/06/2020

16/10/2020

6,480

72912/17

21/09/2017

Marcin BŁESZNOWSKI

1991

25/06/2020

05/10/2020

7,800

73513/17

10/11/2017

Tomasz CZARNOWSKI

1987

26/06/2020

20/10/2020

9,980

703/18

13/12/2017

Danuta KESLER

1929

Kuligowski Bartosz

Warszawa

25/06/2020

23/09/2020

7,640

961/18

14/12/2017

Adrian Tomasz RÓŻECKI

1979

25/06/2020

12/10/2020

12,110

2332/18

03/01/2018

Wiesław Zbigniew SIERGIEJ

1963

25/06/2020

18/08/2020

17,790

6675/18

28/12/2017

Daniel ŁYŻWIŃSKI

1988

Serwińska Natalia

Warszawa

25/06/2020

08/10/2020

14,460

7343/18

10/01/2018

Robert ZIARNIK

1966

25/06/2020

12/10/2020

19,840

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