4.  Ms Yekaterina Nikiforovna Miroshnichenko (the first applicant) and Ms Tatyana Ivanovna Grabovskaya (the second applicant) were born in 1948. Both applicants live in the town of Chuguyev, the Kharkiv region. 5.  The State owns 32.67% of the shares in the Chuguyevskaya Toplivnaya Apparatura Company (the applicants’ employer, hereafter “the Company”), which is therefore subject to the Law of 29 November 2001 “on the Introduction of a Moratorium on the Forced Sale of Property”. 6.  On 12 June 2002 the Chuguyev City Court (hereafter the “City Court”) ordered that the Company’s salary, social benefits and alimony arrears be paid by instalments. The court referred, inter alia, to the practical suspension of the enforcement proceedings due to the aforementioned moratorium Law. 7.  On 25 November 2002 and 3 March 2003, the City Court awarded the first applicant a total of UAH 2,810[1] against the Company in salary arrears. On 3 March 2003 the City Court made a similar award in favour of the second applicant for the sum of UAH 2,178.35[2]. 8.  Both judgments became final and were sent to the Chuguyev City Bailiffs’ Service (hereafter “the Bailiffs”) for compulsory enforcement. 9.  In a letter of 8 July 2003, the Kharkiv Regional Department of Justice (hereafter “the Department”) informed the first applicant that the award could not be immediately enforced due to, inter alia, the moratorium Law. However, the Department indicated that the proceedings with respect to the assets of the Company not covered by the moratorium (i.e. bank accounts) were to continue. On 10 March 2004 the second applicant received a similar letter from the Bailiffs. 10.  Numerous enforcement proceedings against the Company (including the applicants’ cases) were impeded by the decision of the City Court of 12 June 2002. Therefore, on 30 July 2002 and 29 October 2002, the Bailiffs applied to the court, requesting the clarification of its decision. However, it was not until 9 April 2003, that the clarification, enabling the Bailiffs to carry out the enforcement, was delivered. 11.  On a number of occasions between July 2002 and February 2004, the Kharkiv Regional Commercial Court instituted bankruptcy proceedings against the Company and issued an injunction barring further debt recovery. The last decision of this kind was taken on 19 February 2004. 12.  According to a letter dated 5 May 2004 from the Department, the enforcement of the applicants’ awards was hindered by both the City Court decision of 12 June 2002 and the bankruptcy proceedings against the Company. The latter caused the Bailiffs to stay the enforcement proceedings on a number of occasions (the last such suspension being made on 16 May 2003 and subsequently lifted on 16 January 2004). 13.  The judgments in the applicants’ favour remain unenforced.