GAJOS AND OTHERS v. POLAND (European Court of Human Rights)

Last Updated on May 3, 2019 by LawEuro

FIRST SECTION
DECISION

Application no.21667/13
Grzegorz GAJOS against Poland
and 50 other applications
(see list appended)

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 18 December 2018 as a Committee composed of:

Ksenija Turković, President,
Krzysztof Wojtyczek,
Pauliine Koskelo, judges,

and Renata Degener, 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 on 22 June, 7 June and 9 July 2018 requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases and the applicants’ reply to these declarations,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

1.  A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.

2.  The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms J. Chrzanowska, and subsequently Mr J. Sobczak, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

3.  All the applicants complained 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 courts.

4.  The applications were communicated to the Government.

5.  By letters dated 22 June, 7 June and 9 July 2018 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make declarations with a view to resolving the issues raised by the applications. In each case the Government acknowledged a violation of Article 6 § 1 on account of the excessive length of proceedings and violation of Article 13 on account of the lack of an effective remedy, securing sufficient redress for a violation of Article 6 § 1. They offered payment of sums specified in respect of each applicant in a table appended to their declarations. The Government further undertook to adopt a range of general measures in respect of other persons who were victims of similar violations or might be affected by similar violations in the future. The sums referred to above, which are specified in the appendix to the decision, are to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. They will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the Convention. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on each of them, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default periods plus three percentage points. In addition, the Government made a declaration on general measures to be adopted in implementation of the Rutkowski and Others pilot judgment (see Rutkowski and Others v. Poland, nos. 72287/10 and 2 others, 7 July 2015). They further requested the Court to strike out the applications in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.

6.  On various dates in 2018 the Court received letters from the applicants informing the Court that they had all agreed to the terms of the Government’s declarations.

THE LAW

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

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

9.  The Court has already examined the unilateral declarations submitted by the Government in the pilot-judgment procedure in the case Rutkowski and Others (cited above). It found that, in view of the amounts proposed by the Government in their unilateral declarations on the individual measures of redress, there have been no circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which would require the continued examination of the cases where a friendly settlement has been concluded (see Załuska and Rogalska v. Poland and 398 other applications (dec.), nos. 53491/10 and 72286/10, § 37, 20 June 2017). It has also been satisfied that, having regard to the general measures taken or to be taken in the future by the respondent Government, the settlement was based on “respect for human rights” as interpreted in the context of the pilot‑judgment procedure (see ibid, § 45).

10.  The same conclusions apply to the instant cases. The Court therefore takes note of the friendly settlements reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlements are based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications.

11.  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 pursuant to Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 24 January 2019.

RenataDegener                                                  KsenijaTurković
DeputyRegistrar                                                       President

 

Appendix

No. Application no. Lodged on Applicant

Date of birth

Place of residence

Represented by Amount proposed in Unilateral Declaration
1. 21667/13 19/03/2013 Grzegorz GAJOS

08/07/1975

Warsaw

PLN 15,870
2. 30631/13 22/04/2013 Rafał Marcin ZABOROWSKI

23/06/1980

Łódź

PLN 11,860
3. 33900/14 05/08/2014 Marek Adam WASYLKOWSKI

12/09/1969

Gdańsk

PLN 8,890
4. 37428/15 21/07/2015 Czesław PACH

08/11/1959

Radłów

Edyta KONKA PLN 27,520
5. 41947/15 14/08/2015 Zbigniew RESZKA

28/12/1952

Warsaw 

Natalia OŁOWSKA-CZAJKA PLN 21,840
6. 43631/15 25/08/2015 DariuszArtur SKOWRONEK

15/06/1966

Lublin

PLN 6,050
7. 44691/15 02/09/2015 Paweł CHOROŚ

12/09/1975

Warsaw

Marta SKRZYMOWSKA PLN 17,980
8. 3752/16 12/01/2016 Piotr TOMASZEWSKI

06/03/1987

Siedlce

PLN 15,410
9. 7159/16 20/01/2016 Robert Zdzisław SZAMBOROWSKI

03/09/1974

Przytuły Stare

PLN 15,600
10. 7254/16 29/01/2016 Andrzej Tadeusz PRZEWOSKI

10/10/1966

Kwidzyn 

PLN 15,290
11. 8071/16 04/02/2016 Marcin PODKAŃSKI

21/12/1985

Lublin

PLN 14,980
12. 10949/16 08/02/2016 Bernard KNITTER

28/02/1938

Sopot

Mieczysław STEFAŃSKI

01/01/1951

Sopot

Józef ZAGUBIEŃ

08/09/1941

Gdańsk

PLN 40,560 to B. Knitter,

PLN 40,560 to M. Stefański,

PLN 40,560 to J. Zagubień

13. 11004/16 05/02/2016 Andrzej Tadeusz PRZEWOSKI

10/10/1966

Kwidzyn

PLN 29,660
14. 11893/16 12/02/2016 Michał CHOJECKI

10/11/1988

Rzekuń

PLN 5,630
15. 12089/16 26/02/2016 MarzenaKatarzyna SKŁUCKA

27/04/1966

Wien

PLN 44,460
16. 13103/16 20/04/2016 Sebastian KOWALSKI

05/06/1991

Sztum

PLN 4,240
17. 13240/16 29/02/2016 Janusz GUZIK

18/02/1965

Łęczyca

PLN 10,380
18. 17441/16 09/03/2016 Krzysztof DUTKIEWICZ

30/06/1982

Dubliny

PLN 16,720
19. 20969/16 17/05/2016 Przemysław JORDAN

23/01/1982

Katowice

PLN 15,280
20. 23596/16 21/04/2016 Grzegorz SUSKI

29/09/1959

Gdańsk

Marcin LIPSKI PLN 44,870
21. 23634/16 22/04/2016 Dominik MROZIŃSKI

10/01/1984

Tarnobrzeg

Sebastian MROZIŃSKI PLN 20,280
22. 23874/16 21/04/2016 Cezary KOWALCZYK

08/04/1978

Lublin

Sebastian KOTUŁA PLN 12,360
23. 23897/16 18/04/2016 Jan PRZYWARA

21/12/1959

Gdańsk

PLN 42,370
24. 26288/16 31/05/2016 Marcin PAZIO

14/11/1985

Siedlce

PLN 21,400
25. 28055/16 16/05/2016 Andrzej WŁODARCZYK

24/12/1970

StrzelceOpolskie

PLN 9,270
26. 31163/16 24/06/2016 Dariusz MIKULSKI

02/10/1983

Warsaw

PLN 3,740
27. 31989/16 30/05/2016 Waldemar CZYŻ

19/07/1972

ŻółtańceKolonia

PLN 16,220
28. 32677/16 29/06/2016 Norbert DWORAKOWSKI

09/10/1964

Hajnówka

PLN 10,590
29. 36439/16 05/09/2016 Grzegorz Jacek SKOWROŃSKI

10/05/1975

Brzeg

Jolanta GRUDZIEŃ PLN 8,900
30. 38899/16 07/10/2016 Arkadiusz KRUCZEK

18/04/1973

Gdańsk

PLN 24,460
31. 39510/16 23/06/2016 Karol PIŁAT

12/05/1988

Lublin

PLN 7,800
32. 43382/16 29/08/2016 Krzysztof SKRZYPEK

20/08/1965

Kamińsk

PLN 34,320
33. 43776/16 20/07/2016 Konrad KOSOWSKI

19/01/1981

Konstancin-Jeziorna 

PLN 10,380
34. 48262/16 08/08/2016 Jacek WOŁOSZCZUK

29/06/1966

Chełm

PLN 10,170
35. 52298/16 29/08/2016 Małgorzata ŁEPIK-SZOSTAK

25/12/1967

Chełm

PLN 13,190
36. 53555/16 30/08/2016 Marek PRZYWARA

12/02/1961

Gdańsk

Marcin LIPSKI PLN 51,450
37. 54057/16 06/09/2016 MirosławStanisław KAWALEC

13/10/1967

Dorohusk

PLN 10,170
38. 55205/16 15/09/2016 JarosławSławomir KUCIŃSKI

25/08/1996

Chełm

PLN 16,220
39. 57263/16 20/09/2016 Andrzej BETIUK

22/11/1966

Chełm

PLN 16,220
40. 58288/16 28/09/2016 Jarosław SOKOŁOWSKI

03/07/1969

Chełm

PLN 16,220
41. 60112/16 24/11/2016 Przemysław MISZTA

05/12/1979

NowogródBobrzański

PLN 12,480
42. 77767/16 09/12/2016 Łukasz TYBULCZUK

15/04/1991

Warsaw

Monika GĄSIOROWSKA PLN 15,730
43. 78947/16 03/12/2016 Krzysztof CIEMIŃSKI

05/03/1987

Warsaw

PLN 15,580
44. 3004/17 05/01/2017 Mariusz WITAN

03/10/1982

Warsaw

Anna IMBIRSKA PLN 15,720
45. 10438/17 10/01/2017 Robert RAKOWSKI

15/06/1974

Żytkowice

PLN 26,410
46. 18745/17 03/03/2017 Grzegorz LUCHOWSKI

18/07/1971

Chełm

PLN 16,220
47. 25261/17 27/03/2017 Szymon MACIUSZONEK

27/10/1967

Warsaw

Piotr KAWALEC PLN 35,200
48. 26121/17 29/03/2017 Filip GAWRYSZEWSKI

23/04/1989

Warsaw

Natalia SERWIŃSKA PLN 8,470
49. 26124/17 29/03/2017 Leszek BŁASZCZAK

02/05/1988

Warsaw

Natalia SERWIŃSKA PLN 8,470
50. 27241/17 29/03/2017 Jakub WROŃSKI

15/06/1984

Warsaw

PLN 15,720
51. 33541/17 26/04/2017 Emil GAŁECKI

14/11/1982

Warsaw

PLN 7,410

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *