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SECOND
SECTION
CASE OF
MLADENOVIĆ v. SERBIA
(Application
no. 1099/08)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
22 May
2012
This
judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article 44
§ 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Mladenović v. Serbia,
The
European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a Chamber
composed of:
Françoise Tulkens,
President,
Danutė Jočienė,
Dragoljub
Popović,
Işıl Karakaş,
Guido
Raimondi,
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque,
Helen
Keller, judges,
and Stanley Naismith,
Section Registrar,
Having
deliberated in private on 17 April 2012,
Delivers
the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
- The
case originated in an application (no. 1099/08) against Serbia lodged
with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”)
by a Serbian national, Ms Milijana Mladenović (“the
applicant”), on 12 December 2007.
- The
applicant was represented by Mr J. Pavlica, a lawyer practising in
Belgrade. The Serbian Government (“the Government”) were
represented by their Agent, Mr S. Carić.
- The
applicant complained about the respondent
State’s failure to carry out a prompt, thorough and effective
investigation into her son’s death, as well as the excessive
length of the criminal proceedings at
issue.
- On
5 January 2011 the application was communicated to the Government. It
was also decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the
application at the same time (Article 29 § 1).
THE FACTS
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
- The
applicant was born in 1948 and lives in Belgrade.
- The
facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as
follows.
- On
30 July 1991, in the course of a fight between two groups of youths,
the applicant’s son (hereinafter “A”), aged 21, was
fatally shot by an off-duty police officer (hereinafter “B”),
who had apparently attempted to assist his own brother as one of the
participants in the said incident.
- On
an unspecified date thereafter the District Public Prosecutor’s
Office (OkruZno javno tuZilaštvo) in Belgrade charged B
with murder, as well as a number of other persons for several related
crimes.
- The
decision to institute a formal judicial investigation (rešenje
o sprovođenju istrage) was adopted on 5 August 1991.
- On
30 December 1991, however, the charges against B were dropped, and on
13 January 1992 the investigating judge (istraZni sudija) of
the District Court (OkruZni
sud) in Belgrade decided to terminate the proceedings against him
(obustavi istragu).
- During
the said investigation the defendants had all been heard in person,
as had several witnesses, including A’s own brother. The
investigating judge had further obtained relevant medical and
ballistics reports, as well as other expert testimony. The autopsy
report had also been produced.
- On
4 February 1992 the applicant filed an indictment (optuZnica)
against B with the District Court, and thus took over the prosecution
of the case in the capacity of a “subsidiary prosecutor”
(see paragraph 32 below).
- On
29 January 1996 the District Court acquitted B, stating that he had
acted in self-defence.
- Between
4 February 1992 and 29 January 1996 more than a dozen hearings had
been held before the District Court. The applicant and numerous
witnesses, as well as medical and ballistics experts, had all been
heard, and a re-construction of the events in question had been
carried out.
- On
24 March 1999 the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Srbije) quashed
the judgment of 29 January 1996 and ordered that the case be
re-examined at first instance. In so doing, it described the District
Court’s reasoning as incoherent and noted that its
establishment of the facts and its assessment of evidence had been
fundamentally flawed.
- On
4 November 2002 the District Court again acquitted B, re-affirming
that he had acted in self-defence.
- On
20 April 2004 the Supreme Court quashed the District Court’s
judgment. It noted that the said court’s reasoning had almost
exclusively taken into account the evidence in favour of B, having
ignored or misrepresented the rest. The District Court was thus
ordered to thoroughly review the case and re-assess the evidence. The
District Court received the Supreme Court’s decision on 21
September 2004.
- The
next hearing before the District Court was scheduled for September
2006, but was subsequently cancelled by the court itself because it
had, apparently, been unable to secure the proper composition of its
bench.
- On
18 December 2006 the District Court adjourned the hearing because of
the inability of B’s lawyer to appear in court due to a prior
professional commitment.
- Following
an additional adjournment on 27 June 2007, a new hearing was set for
19 September 2007.
- On
19 September 2007 the District Court again adjourned the hearing,
this time because it had been informed that B, still an active police
officer, had been sent, as a member of the Serbian contingent, to
take part in the United Nations’ mission in Liberia. The
decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ministarstvo
unutrašnjih poslova) issued in this respect, on 3 August
2007, stated that B’s posting would last for a period of one
year, but that it could be extended. The District Court scheduled the
next hearing for 2 November 2007, which was apparently when B was
supposed to briefly visit Belgrade.
- On
4 October 2007, however, the applicant was informed that the next
hearing would instead be held “on 3 October 2007”.
- The
applicant thereafter went physically to the District Court’s
registry and was told that the upcoming hearing was still scheduled
for 2 November 2007.
- On
2 November 2007 the applicant therefore appeared before the District
Court, but was informed by the presiding judge that the hearing had
been set for 30 October 2007. The judge ultimately accepted to
schedule a new hearing for 14 December 2007.
- On
23 November 2007, however, the applicant received the District
Court’s decision of 30 October 2007, declaring that the
proceedings had been terminated due to the applicant’s failure
to appear before the court on the latter date.
- On
26 November 2007 the applicant complained about this decision, and on
6 December 2007 the District Court re-instituted the proceedings in
question.
- Between
20 February 2008 and 4 December 2008 a total of six hearings were
adjourned by the District Court, the reasons for this being: (i) B’s
failure to appear in court (on three occasions); (ii) the presiding
judge’s wish to withdraw from the case in view of the
applicant’s complaints against him (once); and (iii) the
inability of B’s lawyer to appear in court as a result of a
traffic accident (twice).
- By
October 2009 the District Court had held another three and adjourned
another two hearings. Specifically, the hearings of 24 April 2009, 29
June 2009 and 9 October 2009 had been held, during which B and a
number of witnesses had been re-heard, whilst the hearings of 28
January 2009 and 30 November 2009 had been adjourned due to B’s
failure to appear in court and the presiding judge’s absence,
respectively.
- In
December 2009 the presiding judge was not re-elected to the bench.
The case was therefore assigned to another judge and the proceedings
started anew.
- It
would appear that no hearings have been scheduled thereafter.
II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW
- Articles
19 and 20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Zakonik o krivičnom
postupku, published in the Official Gazette of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia nos. 70/01 and 68/02, as well as in the
Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia nos. 58/04, 85/05, 115/05,
46/06, 49/07, 122/08, 20/09, 72/09 and 76/10) provide, inter alia,
that formal criminal proceedings can be instituted at the request of
an authorised prosecutor. In respect of crimes subject to prosecution
ex officio, including murder, the authorised prosecutor is the
public prosecutor personally. The latter’s authority to decide
whether to press charges, however, is bound by the principle of
legality which requires that he must act whenever there is a
reasonable suspicion that a crime subject to prosecution ex
officio has been committed.
- Article
61 provides that should the public prosecutor decide that there is no
basis to prosecute, he must inform the victim of this decision, who
shall then have the right to take over the prosecution of the case on
his own behalf, in the capacity of a “subsidiary prosecutor”.
- Articles
64 § 2 and 379 provide that in a case where the prosecution has
already been taken over by a subsidiary prosecutor, the public
prosecutor shall nevertheless have the power, up until the conclusion
of the main hearing (do završetka glavnog pretresa), to
resume the prosecution of the matter ex officio. It is
understood that this refers to the main hearing at first instance,
including the main hearing following a possible quashing of a first
instance judgment, as well as a potential main hearing on appeal (see
Komentar Zakonika o krivičnom postupku, Prof. dr Tihomir
Vasiljević and Prof. dr Momčilo Grubač, IDP
Justinijan, Belgrade, 2005, p. 136, paragraphs 3 and 4).
THE LAW
I. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 2 OF THE CONVENTION
- The
applicant complained about the respondent
State’s failure to carry out a prompt, thorough and effective
investigation into the death of her son.
- Being
the “master of the characterisation” to be given in law
to the facts of any case before it (see Akdeniz v. Turkey, no.
25165/94, § 88, 31 May 2005), the Court considers that
this complaint falls to be examined under Article 2 of the
Convention, which provision reads as follows:
“1. Everyone’s right to life shall be
protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally
save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his
conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.
2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded
as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from
the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:
(a) in defence of any person from unlawful
violence;
(b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to
prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;
(c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose
of quelling a riot or insurrection.”
A. Admissibility
1. Compatibility ratione temporis
- The
Government noted that the fatal shooting had happened in 1991, that
the official investigation into this incident had ended by 13 January
1992 and that Serbia ratified the Convention on 3 March 2004. The
Government further maintained that “the most significant part
of the proceedings” which ensued beyond 13 January 1992, at the
applicant’s own initiative, also took place before the Serbian
ratification of the Convention. Lastly, no relevant new evidence was
discovered as of 3 March 2004, and the criminal proceedings have
since then mostly revolved around the assessment of evidence
collected earlier. The Government therefore opined that the
applicant’s complaint under Article 2 should be rejected as
incompatible with the Convention ratione temporis.
- The
applicant maintained that her complaint could not be dismissed on
this ground since the impugned proceedings were still ongoing.
- Pursuant to the general rules of international law
(notably, Article 28 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties), the Convention does not bind a Contracting Party in
relation to any act or fact which took place or any situation which
ceased to exist before its entry into force with respect to that
Party (see Blečić v. Croatia [GC], no. 59532/00, §
70, ECHR 2006-III). However, it is clear from the Court’s
case-law concerning Article 2 that the procedural obligation to
investigate has evolved into a separate and autonomous duty, capable
of binding the State even when the death took place before
ratification (see Šilih v. Slovenia [GC], no. 71463/01,
§ 159, 9 April 2009). Given the principle of legal
certainty, the Court’s temporal jurisdiction in this regard is
nevertheless not open-ended (ibid, § 161). Where the
death occurred before ratification, only procedural acts or omissions
occurring after that date can fall within the Court’s temporal
jurisdiction (ibid, § 162). Furthermore, there must be a
genuine connection between the death and the entry into force of the
Convention in respect of that State for the procedural obligation to
come into effect. In practice, this means that a significant
proportion of the procedural steps required by this provision have
been, or should have been, carried out after ratification. The Court
has also held that circumstances may emerge which cast doubt on the
effectiveness of the original investigation and an obligation may
arise for further investigations to be pursued (see Hackett v. the
United Kingdom (dec.), no. 34698/04, 10 May 2005).
- In
view of the above, and given that there have been more than eight
years of various procedural acts/omissions in the impugned criminal
proceedings as of 3 March 2004, including the quashing of the
defendant’s second acquittal by the Supreme Court indicating
serious deficiencies in the earlier proceedings (see paragraphs 17-30
above), the Court considers that the applicant’s complaint is
compatible ratione temporis with the Convention in so far as
it concerns events as of the entry into force of the Convention in
respect of Serbia. It is further understood that where a national
system allows for a possibility for the victim’s family to take
over the prosecution of the case on their own behalf, i.e. in the
capacity of a “subsidiary prosecutor”, such
post-ratification proceedings must also be taken into account (see,
mutatis mutandis, V.D. v. Croatia, no. 15526/10,
§ 53, 8 November 2011, albeit in the context of Article 3
and non-exhaustion).
- The Government’s objection must therefore be
dismissed.
2. The six-month time-limit
- The
Government also argued that the applicant had not complied with the
six-month requirement provided for in Article 35 § 1 of the
Convention. In particular, the official investigation into the
incident had ended by 13 January 1992 and, as already noted above,
Serbia ratified the Convention on 3 March 2004. The applicant should
therefore have lodged her application with the Court within six
months as of that latter date.
- The
applicant maintained that she had complied with the six-month
time-limit since she had filed her application less than three months
as of when it became apparent that no redress could be obtained
domestically, i.e. as of 19 September 2007 (see paragraph 21 above).
- The purpose of the six-month rule is to promote
security of the law (see P.M. v. the United Kingdom (dec.),
no. 6638/03, 24 August 2004). It should ensure that it is possible to
ascertain the facts of a case before that possibility fades away,
making a fair examination of the question in issue next to impossible
(see Pavlenko v. Russia, no. 42371/02, § 69,
1 April 2010).
- The
six-month period runs from the date of the final decision in the
process of exhaustion of domestic remedies. That being said, where it
is clear from the outset that no effective remedy is available to the
applicant, the period runs from the date of the act in issue, or from
the date of knowledge of that act or its effect on or prejudice to
the applicant (see Dennis and Others v. the United Kingdom
(dec.), no. 76573/01, 2 July 2002). Nor can Article 35
§ 1 be interpreted in a manner which would require an applicant
to seize the Court of his complaint before his position in connection
with the matter has been finally settled at the domestic level.
Where, therefore, an applicant avails himself of an apparently
existing remedy and only subsequently becomes aware of circumstances
which render the remedy ineffective, it may be appropriate for the
purposes of Article 35 § 1 to take the start of the six-month
period from the date when the applicant first became or ought to have
become aware of those circumstances (see Paul and Audrey Edwards
v. the United Kingdom (dec.), no. 46477/99, 7 June 2001).
- The Court has held in cases concerning the obligation
to investigate under Article 2 of the Convention that where a death
has occurred, applicant relatives are expected to keep track of the
progress of the proceedings and to lodge their applications with due
expedition once they are, or should have become, aware of the lack of
any effective redress (see Bulut and Yavuz v. Turkey (dec.),
no. 73065/01, 28 May 2002; Bayram and Yıldırım
v. Turkey (dec.), no. 38587/97, ECHR 2002-III; and Varnava
and Others v. Turkey [GC], nos. 16064/90, 16065/90,
16066/90, 16068/90, 16069/90, 16070/90, 16071/90, 16072/90 and
16073/90, § 158, 18 September 2009).
- Turning
to the present case, the Court considers that the Supreme Courts
decision of 20 April 2004 must have raised the applicant’s
expectations to the effect that she may yet obtain redress
domestically (see paragraph 17 above). At the same time, however, it
seems reasonable that, as argued by the applicant herself, on 19
September 2007 she had lost hope in this regard, having learnt that B
had been sent by the respondent State to a possibly open-ended United
Nations’ Mission in Liberia (see paragraph 21 above). Less
than three months later she lodged her application with the Court.
- In
such circumstances, the Government’s objection concerning the
timeliness of the applicant’s complaint must also be dismissed.
Once again, it is recalled that where a national system allows for a
possibility for the victim’s family to take over the
prosecution of the case on their own behalf such post-ratification
proceedings must also be taken into account, including for exhaustion
and six-month purposes (see paragraph 39 above).
3. Conclusion
- The
Court notes that this complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within
the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention. It further
notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must
therefore be declared admissible.
B. Merits
1. The parties’ submissions
- The
applicant re-affirmed her complaint. She further added that the
Serbian judicial authorities had not been effective, objective or
impartial. In particular, and as regards the ex officio
investigation, the medical experts who had given their opinions were
employed with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and even the
ballistics expert himself had been the said ministry’s employee
almost up until his participation in the proceedings. Further, prior
to the adoption of the judgment of 29 January 1996, the presiding
judge in the case had been removed, and a new one appointed, for no
apparent reason and in breach of the relevant procedural rules. Most
delays, throughout the proceedings, occurred as a result the
defendant’s tactics and the District Court’s inability or
unwillingness to proceed promptly. Lastly, the applicant maintained
that the respondent State’s decision to send B, a defendant in
an ongoing criminal case, to a United Nations’ mission abroad
could not but be construed as yet another attempt to avoid his
conviction.
- The
Government maintained that there had been no violation of Article 2
of the Convention. They argued that the official investigation, which
had ended by 13 January 1992, had been independent and effective.
Also, as noted above, no relevant new evidence was discovered as of
the date of ratification, i.e. 3 March 2004, and the criminal
proceedings have since then mostly concerned the assessment of
evidence collected earlier, specifically whether B should be
convicted of murder or, instead, acquitted on the basis of
self-defence. In any event, the State could not have initiated an ex
officio investigation once the applicant had already taken over
the prosecution of the case in her capacity as a subsidiary
prosecutor.
2. The Court’s assessment
- The
Court has consistently held that the obligation to protect life under
Article 2 of the Convention, read in conjunction with the State’s
general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to “secure
to everyone within [its] jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined
in [the] Convention”, requires that there should be some form
of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed
as a result of the use of force, either by State officials or by
private individuals (see, for example, Branko Tomašić
and Others v. Croatia, no. 46598/06, § 62, 15 January 2009).
This investigation must be effective in the sense that it is capable
of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible
(see Oğur v. Turkey [GC], no. 21594/93, § 88, ECHR
1999 III). This is not an obligation of result, but of means.
The authorities must therefore have taken all reasonable steps
available to them to secure the evidence concerning the incident. Any
deficiency in the investigation which undermines this ability may
risk falling foul of the said standard (see, among other authorities,
Bazorkina v. Russia, no. 69481/01, § 118, 27 July 2006).
Also, there is an implicit requirement of promptness and reasonable
expedition (see Yaşa v. Turkey, 2 September 1998, Reports
of Judgments and Decisions 1998-VI, §§ 102-04, and
Mahmut Kaya v. Turkey, no. 22535/93, §§ 106-07,
ECHR 2000 III). Whilst there may be genuine difficulties which
prevent progress in a particular investigation, a prompt response by
the authorities in situations involving the use of lethal force may
generally be regarded as essential in maintaining public confidence
in the rule of law and in preventing any appearance of collusion in
or tolerance of unlawful acts (see Jularić v. Croatia,
no. 20106/06, § 43, 20 January 2011). Finally, even if a
prosecution is brought and suspects stand trial, the Court will
examine whether this is a “meaningful” or serious
exercise with any realistic prospects of bringing the perpetrator to
account (see, mutatis mutandis, Akkum and Others v. Turkey,
no. 21894/93, §§ 231, 250 and 251, ECHR 2005 II
(extracts). Violations have also been found where the trial had
continued unduly (see Opuz v. Turkey, no. 33401/02, §
151, ECHR 2009, a case where the criminal proceedings at issue had
lasted for more than six years and were still pending) or had ended
by prescription allowing the accused perpetrators to escape
accountability (see, mutatis mutandis, Teren Aksakal v.
Turkey, no. 51967/99, § 88, 11 September 2007).
- Turning
to the present case, even though it has temporal jurisdiction to
examine the applicant’s complaint only in so far as it concerns
events as of 3 March 2004 (see paragraph 39 above), the Court shall
nevertheless, for reasons of context, take note of all relevant
events prior to that date (see, albeit in the context of Article 3,
Milanović v. Serbia, no. 44614/07, § 78, 14 December
2010).
- The
Court therefore recalls that the criminal proceedings in question had
formally commenced on 5 August 1991. They were, however, terminated
by 13 January 1992, and by 4 February 1992 the applicant took over
the prosecution of the case in her capacity as a subsidiary
prosecutor. On 29 January 1996 the District Court acquitted B,
stating that he had acted in self-defence, but on 24 March 1999 the
Supreme Court quashed this judgment and ordered that the case be
re-examined at first instance. On 4 November 2002 the District
Court again acquitted B, re-affirming that he had acted in
self-defence. On 20 April 2004, following the respondent State’s
ratification of the Convention, the Supreme Court quashed the
District Court’s judgment, noting that its reasoning had almost
exclusively taken into account the evidence in favour of B and had
ignored or misrepresented the rest. The Supreme Court hence ordered
the District Court to thoroughly review the case and re-assess the
evidence. More than eight years later the proceedings in question are
still pending at first instance.
- Further,
if it is accepted that the post-ratification proceedings have been
mostly concerned with the assessment of evidence, as argued by the
Government, it remains unclear as to why there is still no final
acquittal or conviction in the case, it being noted that there have
apparently been no procedural developments whatsoever since December
2009.
- Lastly,
the Government’s suggestion to the effect that the respondent
State could not have initiated an ex officio investigation
after the applicant had already taken over the prosecution of the
case in the capacity of a subsidiary prosecutor neglects Articles 64
§ 2 and 379 of the Code on Criminal Procedure, which provide
that the public prosecutor shall always have the power, up until the
conclusion of the main hearing, to resume the prosecution of the
matter ex officio (see paragraph 33 above).
- The
foregoing considerations are sufficient to enable the Court to
conclude that there has been a violation of the procedural obligation
under Article 2 of the Convention.
II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE
CONVENTION
- The
applicant further complained about the excessive
length of the criminal proceedings at
issue. She relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the
relevant part of which reads:
“In the determination of his civil rights and
obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is
entitled to a ... hearing within a reasonable time by [a] ...
tribunal ...”
- The
Court notes that the requirement of promptness is inherent in the
procedural aspect of Article 2 (see paragraph 51 above).
- Having
regard to its findings in that context (see paragraphs 52-56 above),
the Court considers that it is not necessary to examine separately
the admissibility or the merits of the applicant’s complaint
made under Article 6 § 1.
III. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
- Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a
violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the
internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only
partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford
just satisfaction to the injured party.”
A. Damage
- The
applicant claimed a total of 9,322.97 euros (EUR) in respect of
pecuniary damage, consisting of funeral and commemoration costs, as
well as the costs of a gravestone, plus interest.
- As
regards the non-pecuniary damage, the applicant claimed EUR 4,000 for
herself, as well as another EUR 4,000 and EUR 3,000 for her son’s
father and brother, respectively.
- The
Government contested these claims.
- The
Court does not discern any causal link between the procedural
violation of Article 2 of the Convention found and the pecuniary
damage alleged; it therefore rejects this claim. On the other hand,
it awards the applicant the EUR 4,000 sought in respect of the
non-pecuniary damage suffered. Lastly, the Court rejects the just
satisfaction claim as regards B’s father and brother since they
were never applicants in the proceedings before it.
B. Costs and expenses
- The
applicant claimed EUR 17,700 for the costs and expenses incurred
domestically, and an unspecified sum “for [her] representation”
before the Court.
- The
Government contested these claims.
- According
to the Court’s case-law, an applicant is entitled to the
reimbursement of costs and expenses only in so far as it has been
shown that these have been actually and necessarily incurred and are
also reasonable as to their quantum. In the present case, regard
being had to the documents in its possession and the above criteria,
as well as the domestic procedural developments as of the date of
entry of the Convention in respect of Serbia, the Court considers it
reasonable to award the sum of EUR 5,000 covering costs under all
heads.
C. Default interest
- The
Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should
be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank,
to which should be added three percentage points.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT UNANIMOUSLY
- Declares the complaint under Article 2 of the
Convention admissible;
- Holds that there has been a violation of Article
2 of the Convention;
- Holds that it is not necessary to examine
separately the complaint under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention;
- Holds
(a) that
the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months
from the date on which the judgment becomes final in accordance with
Article 44 § 2 of the Convention, the following
amounts, to be converted into Serbian dinars at the rate applicable
at the date of settlement:
(i) EUR
4,000 (four thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable, in
respect of non-pecuniary damage;
(ii) EUR
5,000 (five thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable to
the applicant, in respect of costs and expenses;
(b) that
from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement
simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal
to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the
default period plus three percentage points;
- Dismisses the remainder of the applicant’s
claim for just satisfaction.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 22 May 2012, pursuant to
Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Stanley Naismith Françoise Tulkens
Registrar President