CASE OF NIKOLIĆ AND OTHERS v. SERBIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Enforcement proceedings;Article 6-1 - Reasonable time);Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions)
Branko Lubarda;Georgios A. Serghides;Pere Pastor Vilanova
5. In 1961 the applicants’ predecessors were deprived of certain land in favour of the State. 6. On 26 January 2006 the Niš Municipal Court ordered PIK Niš (the debtor), a company predominantly comprised of socially-owned capital, as the end user of that land, to pay the applicants specified amounts on account of the compensation for the land in question. 7. On 25 October 2006 and 1 February 2007 respectively, upon the applicants’ request to that effect, the Niš Municipal Court ordered the enforcement of the said judgment and further ordered the debtor to pay the applicants the enforcement costs. This judgment became both, final and enforceable by 16 August 2006. 8. Only one applicant, Mr Tomislav Đorđević, never lodged an enforcement request. 9. On 3 June 2009 the Niš Commercial Court opened insolvency proceedings in respect of the debtor (St. 10/09). 10. Only one applicant, Ms Milica Nikolić Jajčević, duly submitted her claims therein. 11. These insolvency proceedings are still ongoing. 12. On 2 March 2009, 31 August 2009 and 9 June 2010 respectively, all applicants lodged their constitutional appeals. 13. On 17 March 2011, 4 April 2012 and 23 May 2012, respectively, the Constitutional Court found a violation of the right to a hearing within a reasonable time in respect of all applicants, except Mr Tomislav Đorđević. However, the court did not award the applicants any damages, merely stating that the applicants “had not claimed non-pecuniary damages”. 14. The Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal in respect of one applicant, Mr Tomislav Đorđević, since he had failed to request enforcement of the judgment in question.