CASE OF KRGOVIĆ v. SERBIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Enforcement proceedings;Article 6-1 - Access to court)
Alena Poláčková;Branko Lubarda;Georgios A. Serghides;Helena Jäderblom;Johannes Silvis;Luis López Guerra;Pere Pastor Vilanova
5. The applicant was born in 1967 and lives in Stari Bar, Montenegro. At the relevant time he was a professional basketball player. 6. On 9 July 1997 the applicant brought a claim against the basketball club for which he had been playing, Vojvodina BFC (Košarkaski klub Vojvodina BFC), based in Novi Sad. The club had the status of a citizens’ association. 7. On 17 February 1998 the Novi Sad Municipal Court (hereinafter “the Municipal Court”) ruled in favour of the applicant, ordering Vojvodina BFC (hereinafter “the debtor”) to pay him, within fifteen days, the sum of 110,550 dinars (RSD – approximately 10,000 euros (EUR) at the time) and RSD 8,500 (approximately EUR 730) in costs, together with statutory interest. The judgment became final on an unspecified date in 1998. 8. Following a request by the applicant on 15 October 1998 for enforcement, on 19 October 1998 the Municipal Court issued an enforcement order. 9. On 25 December 1998 the applicant informed the court that the debtor did not have sufficient funds in its bank account and proposed that the judgment be enforced by the sale of the debtor’s immovable assets situated on the premises of the Vojvodina Sports and Business Centre. On 17 March 1999 an enforcement order to that effect was issued. 10. In the meantime, a new basketball club, NIS-Vojvodina, was formed. 11. On 25 December 2002 the Central Bank in Novi Sad informed the court that the debtor’s bank account had been frozen. 12. On 14 March 2003 the applicant informed the court of another bank account in the debtor’s name. On 9 May 2003 he asked the court not to carry out the enforcement by sale of the debtor’s immovable assets as he had asked previously, because it appeared that assets did not belong to the debtor, but to the basketball club NIS-Vojvodina. 13. On 12 May 2003 the Municipal Court ordered enforcement in accordance with the applicant’s request of 14 March 2003. 14. On 25 June 2003 the Central Bank in Novi Sad informed the court that the account details the applicant had provided did not concern the debtor but the basketball club NIS-Vojvodina, and that the debtor’s account was still frozen. 15. On 14 July 2003 NIS-Vojvodina appealed against the enforcement order of 12 May 2003. It claimed not to be the debtor’s legal successor. 16. On 1 April 2004 a three judge panel of the Municipal Court (hereinafter “the panel”) refused to hear the appeal until the enforcement judge determined the debtor’s liabilities. 17. On 24 June 2004 NIS-Vojvodina filed a submission, denying any connection with the applicant’s debtor. 18. On 19 October 2004 the Municipal Court asked the applicant to comment on NIS-Vojvodina’s submission and propose another method of enforcement. 19. As the applicant failed to do so, on 11 January 2005 the Municipal Court suspended (obustavio) the enforcement against NIS-Vojvodina. The applicant appealed. 20. On 14 February 2005 the panel instructed the enforcement judge to establish if there was any relationship between the debtor and NISVojvodina before transferring the file back to it again. 21. On 30 May 2005 the Ministry of Education and Sport informed the Municipal Court that the applicant’s debtor had appeared on their register of sports organisations since 3 August 1999, while NIS-Vojvodina had never been registered. 22. In the proceedings that followed, the enforcement judge, relying on the Ministry’s information note of 30 May 2005, found that NIS-Vojvodina was not the debtor’s legal successor and transferred the case file to the panel on 1 September 2005. 23. On 16 March 2006 the panel upheld the decision of 11 January 2005, finding that there were no grounds to continue enforcement against NIS-Vojvodina. 24. On 1 September 2011 the Novi Sad Commercial Court opened insolvency proceedings in respect of the debtor and adopted the restructuring plan it had devised. According to the plan, the debtor would pay the applicant RSD 1,229,332.42 (approximately EUR 10,000) over five years, paying him one fifth of the total amount each year. 25. . On 17 September 2012 the debtor paid the applicant one fifth of the above-mentioned sum, that is to say RSD 245,866.48 (approximately EUR 2,000). 26. There is no information in the case file as to whether the applicant received any payments thereafter.