CASE OF IGNJATOVIĆ v. SERBIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Enforcement proceedings;Article 6-1 - Access to court)
Branko Lubarda;Dmitry Dedov;Luis López Guerra
5. The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Donji Milanovac. 6. He was employed by Ðerdap, a company in Kladovo (Ribarsko gazdinstvo “Ðerdap” – hereinafter “the debtor company”). 7. On 28 December 1998 the applicant was reassigned to a lower post by his employer. He was subsequently dismissed on 20 January 2000. These two decisions, taken by the company’s managing director, were upheld by its board of management. 8. On 18 February 1999 the applicant filed a civil claim against the debtor company; on 26 April 2000 he filed a separate claim seeking reinstatement to a suitable position, as well as the outstanding salary payments and social benefits. 9. On 19 June 2003 the Majdanpek Municipal Court (hereinafter “the Municipal Court”) ruled in favour of the applicant and ordered the debtor company to reinstate the applicant to a post which corresponded to his professional qualifications and to pay him specified amounts on account of salary arrears and social insurance contributions, plus the costs of the civil proceedings. This judgment became final on 23 October 2003. 10. On 16 February 2004, 9 March 2004, 18 and 19 October 2004, respectively upon the applicant’s requests to that effect, the Municipal Court accepted the enforcement of the said judgment and further ordered the debtor to pay the applicant the enforcement costs. 11. The Municipal Court provided the National Bank of Serbia (Narodna banka Srbije – “the Central Bank”) with the above-mentioned enforcement orders on 14 April 2004, 20 July 2004 and 11 November 2004, respectively. 12. It would appear that none of the above-mentioned enforcement orders have been enforced to date. 13. On 8 April 2010 the Central Bank informed the Zaječar Commercial Court of the suspension of the debtor company’s accounts for three years. 14. On 13 April 2010 the Commercial Court opened preliminary insolvency proceedings against the debtor company. 15. On 30 June 2010 the Commercial Court opened and closed the insolvency proceedings against the debtor company and that decision became final on 10 August 2010. 16. The debtor company was ultimately struck from the relevant public register on 31 August 2010. 17. The debtor company in the present case had been a socially owned company. In 1991 it was transformed into a limited company which remained mainly socially owned, and remained as such until it was struck off the register (see http://apr.gov.rs/, accessed on 1 December 2016).