6.  The first applicant was born in 1973 and the second applicant in 1966. Both of them live in Plovdiv. 7.  On 17 February 1992 the applicants initiated an action against Mr and Mrs T. ('the defendants”) for partitioning a jointly inherited real estate consisting of two apartments (“the real estate”). 8.  Due to the fact that the defendants lived in Canada at the time, they were summoned to participate in the proceedings through a notice published in the State Gazette on 1 September 1992. 9.  The Plovdiv District Court conducted eleven hearings between 13 October 1992 and 6 June 1995, scheduled three to five months apart. During this period, the court obtained an expert's report, sought the consent of the Ministry of Finance for terminating the joint ownership and questioned witnesses. The defendants failed to appear at the hearing of 13 October 1992 so it was adjourned to 23 March 1993 in order to allow the court to appoint a special representative to act on their behalf. The appointment was undertaken in spite of the presence at the hearing of the mother of one of the defendants who had a power of attorney to act on their behalf and had retained a lawyer to represent them in the proceedings. The next hearing of 23 March 1993 was adjourned to 1 June 1993 due to the defective summoning of the applicants. The hearing of 1 June 1993 was also not conducted due to the failure of the applicants to appear and was postponed to 22 September 1993. Finally, the hearing of 22 September 1993 was adjourned to 25 February 1994 due to another defective summoning of the applicants. 10.  In a judgment of 27 June 1995 the Plovdiv District Court found partly in favour of the applicants, allowed the partitioning of one of the apartments to proceed (“the property”) and dismissed the action in respect of the other apartment. The judgment entered into force on an unspecified date. 11.  At the second phase of the proceedings, the applicants petitioned the courts to assign the property to them against payment of compensation to the defendants, who, in turn, made a counterclaim to the same effect. 12.  The Plovdiv District Court conducted nine hearings between 9 November 1995 and 24 February 1998, scheduled one to nine months apart. During this period, witnesses were questioned, two experts' opinions were obtained and the approval of the local municipality was sought on two occasions for the plans for reconstructing the property into two separate apartments. Of the hearings conducted, one was postponed from 23 January to 1 April 1996, because the experts failed to present their report on time. 13.  In a judgment of 19 March 1998 the Plovdiv District Court found in favour of the applicants, assigned to each of them one of two apartments to be created following the reconstruction of the property and ordered them to pay compensation to the defendants for their share of the property. The latter filed an appeal against the judgment on an unspecified date. 14.  On 1 April 1998 a number of amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure entered into force, which related, among other things, to partition-of-property proceedings and provided for the annulment of all judgments rendered by the courts of first instance in partition-of-property proceedings (see, below, Relevant domestic law). 15.  The appeal proceedings before the Plovdiv Regional Court started with a hearing on 12 January 1999 at which the court instructed the defendants to deposit additional court fees. It considered that the fees due for the appeal proceedings were in the amount of 161,678 Bulgarian levs (BGL) rather than the BGL 5,000 which the defendants had deposited. The defendants disagreed with the court's calculation of the said fees and did not deposit any additional such. 16.  In a decision of 15 January 1999 the Plovdiv Regional Court discontinued the proceedings due to the failure of the defendants to deposit the full amount of the court fees required by the court. On 31 March 1999 the defendants appealed against this decision. The Plovdiv Court of Appeals upheld their appeal on 20 May 1999 and, agreeing with the defendants' arguments, found the calculations of the Plovdiv Regional Court to be erroneous and quashed the decision of 15 January 1999. The case was then remitted to the Plovdiv Regional Court. 17.  At a hearing of 20 October 1999, the Plovdiv Regional Court declared the case ready for decision. 18.  In a judgment of 25 November 1999 the Plovdiv Regional Court upheld the judgment of 19 March 1998 of the Plovdiv District Court in favour of the applicants. 19.  On an unspecified date, the defendants filed a cassation appeal. 20.  It is unclear how many hearings were conducted before the Supreme Court of Cassation. 21.  In a judgment of 30 October 2000 the Supreme Court of Cassation annulled the judgment of the Plovdiv Regional Court of 25 November 1999 and remitted the case to the Plovdiv District Court. It found that following the entry into force on 1 April 1998 of paragraph 151 of the Amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure Act of 23 December 1997, the Plovdiv Regional Court could not rule on the appeal filed by the defendants because the property did not fall under any of the exceptions provided in the said paragraph. Instead, it considered that the Plovdiv Regional Court should have immediately terminated the proceedings before it and remitted the case to the District Court in order to allow that court to annul its judgment of 19 March 1998 and to re-examine the case. 22.  The case was then sent back to the Plovdiv District Court which in a judgment of 5 February 2001 annulled its previous judgment of 19 March 1998. 23.  It is unclear how many hearings were thereafter conducted before the Plovdiv District Court. 24.  In a judgment of 12 October 2001 the Plovdiv District Court, examining anew the action for partitioning, found that none of the parties could be assigned the property and ordered that it be sold at public auction. 25.  On an unspecified date, the parties to the proceedings concluded an out-of-court settlement and petitioned the Plovdiv District Court to annul its judgment on that basis. 26.  In a decision of 7 December 2001 the Plovdiv District Court approved the parties' out-of-court settlement and annulled its judgment of 12 October 2001, thereby bringing the proceedings to a close.