Christou and Others v. Greece

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 62525/19 Charilaos CHRISTOU and Others against Greece

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 14 December 2023 as a Committee composed of:

Darian Pavli , President , Ioannis Ktistakis, Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir , judges ,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 23 December 2019,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

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

The applicants were represented by Mr V. Sotiropoulos, a lawyer practising in Athens.

The first and the second applicants’ complaint under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1, interpreted in the light of Article 9 of the Convention, concerning their right to have their child educated in conformity with their religious and philosophical convictions, and the third applicant’s complaint under the same Article to follow the religious course, were communicated to the Greek Government (“the Government”).

The Court first takes note of the information regarding the death of the first applicant and the wish of the second and the third applicants as his heirs to continue the proceedings in his stead, as well as of the absence of an objection to that wish on the Government’s part. Therefore, the Court considers that the second and the third applicants have standing to continue the proceedings on behalf of the deceased.

The Court received the friendly-settlement declarations, signed by the parties, under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Greece in respect of the facts giving rise to this application, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them jointly the amounts detailed in the appended table. These amounts will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court’s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertake 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 case.

THE LAW

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 the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides that the second and third applicants, heirs of the deceased first applicant, have standing to pursue the proceedings in the stead of the deceased;

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 18 January 2024.

Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention, interpreted in the light of Article 9 of the Convention

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 declaration

Amount awarded for non-pecuniary damage

per household

(in euros) [1]

Amount awarded for costs and expenses per application

(in euros) [2]

62525/19

23/12/2019

(3 applicants)

Household

Charilaos CHRISTOU

1968 (deceased)

Stavroula ZISI

1976

Dimitrios CHRISTOU

2004

Sotiropoulos Vasilios

Athens

26/09/2023

10/10/2023

8,000

1,000

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

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