4.  The applicants were born in 1962, 1962, 1967, 1969 and 1962 respectively and live in Budennovsk of the Stavropol Region.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. 5.  Three applicants, Mr Sosnovskiy, Mrs Yeliseyeva and Mr Anpilov, are acting military servicemen. Two applicants, Mrs Zelenkevich and Mr Zelenkevich, retired from the armed forces in 1998 and 1999 respectively.
The applicants, all acting military servicemen at the material time, were entitled to a special monthly allowance due to combatants. 6.  On 25 April 2001 the applicants brought a civil action against their military unit requesting arrears of a special allowance. 7.  On 19 September 2001 the Pyatigorsk Garrison Military Court of the North-Caucasian Command granted the applicants’ claims in part and awarded different sums to be calculated by the defendant at the moment of actual payment on the basis of applicants’ wages multiplied by their personal coefficient, including but not limited to 19,301.19 and 69,822.48 Russian roubles (RUB) to Mr Zelenkevich; RUB 24,092.98 to Mrs Zelenkevich; RUB 170,765 to Mr Sosnovskiy; RUB 103,246.40 to Mrs Yeliseyeva; RUB 50,947 to Mr Anpilov and taking into account the inflation index in the region on the day of actual payment. 8.  The judgment was not appealed against and became final on 2 October 2001. 9.  On 22 October 2001 the court issued writs of execution. The applicants forwarded them to the local branch of the State treasury. On 14 December 2001 the writs were returned to the applicants unexecuted. The Ministry of Finance explained that the debtor had no available funds which could have been used for paying off the judgment debts. The applicants were advised to address the writs of execution to the Ministry of Defence, which they did later. 10.  On 11 April 2002 the President of the North-Caucasian Command Military Court brought a request for supervisory review of the judgment of 19 September 2001 and ordered to stay the enforcement proceedings. 11.  On 11 June 2002 the Presidium of the North-Caucasian Command Military Court quashed by way of a supervisory review the judgment of 19 September 2001 because of misapplication of material law by the first‑instance court and remitted a case for a fresh examination to the first‑instance court. 12.  On 21 November 2002 the Pyatigorsk Garrison Military Court dismissed the applicants’ claims in full. 13.  On 8 January 2003, upon the applicants’ appeal, the North‑Caucasian Command Military Court upheld the judgment of 21 November 2002.