PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 50424/99) against the Republic of Poland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Polish nationals, Mrs Maria Kusiak (“the first applicant”) and Mr Marian Kusiak (“the second applicant”).

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Mr K. Drzewicki and Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 11 June 2002 the Court declared the application partly inadmissible and decided to communicate the complaint concerning the length of the proceedings to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

THE FACTS

The applicants are a married couple. The first applicant was born in 1945 and the second in 1940. They both live in Ożarów, Poland.

Civil proceedings concerning delimitation of various plots of land belonging to the applicants began on 22 May 1982. On 22 September 1982 the Pruszkόw District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) gave a decision. The applicants appealed. On 9 December 1982 the Warsaw Regional Court (Sąd Wojewόdzki) set aside the first-instance decision and remitted the case.

Following the remission of the case, the Pruszkόw District Court held a number of hearings and ordered that several expert reports be prepared. On 30 September 1985 the Pruszkόw District Court gave a decision. Upon the applicants' appeal, on 10 February 1986 the Warsaw Regional Court set aside the decision and remitted the case for re-examination.

Between 1986 and 1 May 1993 the District Court held 11 hearings.

After 1 May 1993 the Pruszkόw District Court held hearings on the following dates: 29 September, 18 November, 28 December 1993, 1 February, 4 March, 25 March and 20 April 1994.

On 31 May 1994 the court held a viewing of the site. The next hearing was held on 21 October 1994.

On 29 March 1995 the trial court held a hearing and stayed the proceedings because M.K., a party to the proceedings, had died. The applicants requested that the proceedings be resumed. On 5 January 1996 the court refused to resume the proceedings.

On 20 March 1996 the applicants complained to the Ministry of Justice about the delay in the proceedings. On an unspecified date their complaints were referred to the President of the Warsaw Regional Court, who replied thereto on 4 July 1996. He acknowledged that the proceedings were indeed lengthy and promised to supervise their conduct.

On 18 June 1996, on the applicants' appeal, the Warsaw Regional Court amended the decision of 5 January 1996 and resumed the proceedings.

Subsequently, the Pruszkόw District Court held hearings on the following dates: 9 December 1996, 4 September, 21 October and 3 December 1997.

On 3 December 1997 the case file was sent to an expert who was to prepare an opinion. The expert returned the case-file on 20 May 1999.

On 1 June 1999 the court delivered a supplementary expert report and ordered the parties to submit their observations on it. On 23 September and 19 November 1999 the court held hearings. On 19 November 1999 the court gave a decision and ordered a certain M.G. to join the proceedings. On 7 February 2000 the court held a further hearing.

On 18 February 2000 the applicants again complained to the President of the Warsaw Regional Court about the delay in the proceedings.

On 23 May 2001 the court stayed the proceedings. The applicants appealed on 8 June 2001. On 11 December 2001 the court dismissed their appeal.

On 19 September 2001, in reply to the applicants' complaint about the length of the proceedings, the Minister of Justice admitted that there was a certain delay in the proceedings. He further observed that the President of the Warsaw Regional Court and the President of the Pruszkόw District Court had supervised the conduct of the proceedings and had made reports on their progress.

It appears that the proceedings are still stayed and, therefore, pending.