CASE OF PAVLOVIĆ AND PANTOVIĆ v. SERBIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Enforcement proceedings;Article 6-1 - Access to court);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;Dmitry Dedov;Luis López Guerra
5. The applicants were born in 1953 and 1951 respectively and live in Čačak. 6. On 21 March 2008 the Čačak Municipal Court ordered a socially-owned company, Fabrika Reznog Alata Čačak AD and its subsidiaries (hereinafter “the debtor”) to pay the applicants specified amounts on account of salary arrears plus the costs of the civil proceedings. This judgment became final on 2 July 2008. 7. On 4 August 2008, upon the applicants’ request to that effect, the Čačak Municipal Court ordered the enforcement of the said judgment and further ordered the debtor to pay the enforcement costs. 8. On 30 March 2010 the Privatisation Agency ordered the restructuring of the debtor. Subsequently, the enforcement proceedings against the debtor were stayed. 9. On 8 April 2013, upon the applicants’ request to that effect, the Čačak Municipal Court resumed the enforcement proceedings. 10. On 29 July 2010 the applicants lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court. In terms of redress, relying on the Constitutional Court Act 2007, the applicants sought, inter alia, compensation for the damage suffered due to the impugned non-enforcement. 11. On 19 and 20 March 2013 the applicants noted the adoption of the amendments to the Constitutional Court Act, and specified their compensation claims accordingly. Specifically, on account of the pecuniary damage, the applicants requested the respective amounts awarded to them by the final judgment in question, whilst as regards the nonpecuniary damage sustained they claimed 2,000 euros (EUR) each. 12. On 18 September 2013 the Constitutional Court found a violation of the applicants’ right to a hearing within a reasonable time and of their right to the peaceful enjoyment of their possessions. It further awarded the applicants EUR 1,000 and EUR 1,100 respectively as just satisfaction for non-pecuniary damage. However, it rejected their compensation claim regarding the pecuniary damage sought by the applicants. The Constitutional Court, lastly, ordered the speeding up of the impugned enforcement proceedings. 13. In its reasoning, the Constitutional Court stated that the applicants’ pecuniary damage claim had been lodged out of time. In so doing, it merely referred to Article 85 § 3 of the Constitutional Court Act, as amended in 2011, requiring that such claims be brought simultaneously with the lodging of a constitutional appeal. 14. On 10 June 2016 the Government submitted that the National Bank of Serbia informed the Čačak First Instance Court, by its letter of 19 April 2016, that the final court judgment of 21 March 2008 had been partially enforced on 14 August 2008 and that the applicants had received the sum of 143.707,89 Serbian dinars (RSD). The remainder of the judgment remained unenforced. 15. On 9 September 2016 the applicants’ representative submitted that the first applicant and she were not aware of the partial enforcement of the above judgment. Moreover, she stated that they had never received a letter from the National Bank of Serbia related to enforcement issue. Lastly, the applicants’ representative submitted that the National Bank of Serbia had informed her in its letter of 16 August 2016 that the amount of RSD 143.707,89 was paid only to the second applicant.