FIFTH SECTION  CASE OF MARTYNCHUK v. UKRAINE  (Application no. 38988/02)   JUDGMENT  STRASBOURG 10 April 2008   FINAL  10/07/2008  This judgment may be subject to editorial revision.In the case of Martynchuk v. Ukraine,The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Peer Lorenzen, President, Snejana Botoucharova, Karel Jungwiert, Volodymyr Butkevych, Rait Maruste, Mark Villiger, Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, judges,and Claudia Westerdiek, Section Registrar,Having deliberated in private on 18 March 2008,Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:PROCEDURE1. The case originated in an application (no. 38988/02) against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Ukrainian national, Mr Borys Andriyovych Martynchuk (“the applicant”), on 7 October 2002.2. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Mrs V. Lutkovska and Mr Y. Zaytsev.3. On 21 January 2005 the Court decided to communicate the complaint under Article 6 § 1 concerning non-enforcement of the judgment favourable to the applicant 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 FACTSI. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE4. The applicant was born in was born in 1967 and lives in the village of Khotyn, Rivne region, Ukraine.5. On 28 April 1996 the Bereznivsky District Prosecutor’s Office (Березнівська районна прокуратура) opened a criminal investigation into the murder of the applicant’s wife. On the same day the applicant was arrested.6. On 7 May 1996 the applicant was charged with the murder of his wife.7. The applicant was released on 20 February 1997 subject to a written undertaking not to abscond. On 31 March 1999 the Bereznivsky District Prosecutor’s Office dropped the charges against the applicant on the ground of lack of evidence.8. On 31 January 2000 the Rivne Regional Court (Рівненський обласний суд) found Mr K. guilty of the murder concerned. On 15 June 2000 the Supreme Court (Верховний Суд України) upheld the judgment of 31 January 2000. In a separate ruling, issued on the same day, the Supreme Court informed the Prosecutor General (Генерального прокурора) that there had been procedural irregularities in the criminal proceedings against the applicant.9. The applicant brought proceedings for compensation for unlawful criminal prosecution. On 11 September 2001 the Bereznivsky District Court of the Rivne Region (місцевий суд Березнівського району Рівненської області, hereafter “the Bereznivsky Court”) granted this claim and awarded him 50,000[1] Ukrainian Hryvnias (UAH) against the State in compensation for moral damage. The court judgment contained an instruction to the applicant to present a copy of it to the local department of the State Treasury (Державне казначейство) for enforcement. This judgment was not appealed against and became final.10. According to the Government the applicant did not comply with the above instruction of the Bereznivsky Court.11. The applicant stated that he did submit a copy of the judgment to the State Treasury for enforcement. In support of this statement he provided the Court with a copy of a letter of 27 September 2001 in which the Bereznivsky District Department of the State Treasury (Відділення державного казначейства у Березнівському районі Рівненської області) informed the Bereznivsky Court that the State Budget for 2001 did not include funds which could be used to pay the applicant.12. On 5 and 22 April 2005 respectively the Bereznivsky District Department of the State Treasury sent copies of the judgment concerned to the Bereznivsky District Bailiffs’ Service (Відділ державної виконавчою служби Беренівського районного управління юстиції Рівненської області) and the Central Department of the Bailiffs’ Service (Відділ примусового виконання Департаменту державної виконавчої служби), stating that the lack of budget funds prevented it from honouring this judgment and inviting the Bailiffs’ Service to open enforcement proceedings in its respect.13. On 16 May 2005 the Central Department of the Bailiffs’ Service found that a copy of the court judgment, without a writ of execution, was an insufficient ground for initiating the enforcement proceedings.14. On 25 December 2006 the same department of the Bailiffs’ Service refused to accept the writ of execution issued by the Bereznivsky Court because it did not contain the exact address of the State Treasury and had been submitted by the applicant outside the three-year time limit provided by law for compulsory execution.II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW15. The relevant domestic law is summarised in the judgment of 29 June 2004 in the case of Voytenko v. Ukraine (no. 18966/02, §§ 20-25).THE LAWI. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION AND ARTICLE 1 OF PROTOCOL No. 116. The applicant complained of the lengthy non-enforcement of the Bereznivsky Court’s judgment of 11 September 2001 in his favour. He relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention which, in so far as relevant, provides as follows:Article 6 § 1“In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. ...”A. Admissibility1. Exhaustion of domestic remedies17. The Government maintained that the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies available to him. In particular, according to the Government the applicant had not submitted the copy of the judgment of 11 September 2001 to the local department of the State Treasury. Nor did he apply, in accordance with the relevant formalities, to the Bailiffs’ Service to have proceedings instituted for compulsory enforcement of this judgment.18. The applicant disagreed.19. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary from the Government, the Court accepts the applicant’s contention that the letter of 27 September 2001 from the State Treasury to the Bereznivsky Court confirms that he complied with the instruction of the Bereznivsky Court to submit a copy of the judgment of 11 September 2001 to the State Treasury (see paragraphs 11 and 12 above). As regards the applicant’s alleged failure to apply for compulsory enforcement of this judgment to the Bailiffs’ Service, the Court observes that even if it is true that the applicant had not complied with relevant formalities, it is inappropriate to require an individual who has obtained judgment against the State at the end of legal proceedings to then bring enforcement proceedings to obtain satisfaction (see, for example, Scordino v. Italy (no. 1) [GC], no. 36813/97, §198, ECHR 2006‑... and Lizanets v. Ukraine, no. 6725/03, § 43, 31 May 2007). It therefore rejects the Government’s arguments.2. The applicant’s victim status20. The Government argued that the applicant lost his status as a “victim” within the meaning of Article 34 of the Convention because he produced his writ of execution to the Bailiffs’ Service outside the three-year time limit provided by law.21. The applicant disagreed.22. The Court recalls that the term “victim” used in Article 34 denotes the person directly affected by the act or omission which is at issue (see Eckle v. Germany, judgment of 15 July 1982, Series A no. 51, p. 30, § 66). It notes that the court judgment in the applicant’s favour has not been enforced to date. There is nothing to suggest that the applicant has ceased to be affected by non-enforcement this judgment. This is the more so since the failure to abide by this time limit does not deprive the applicant of a right guaranteed by Article 6 § 1 to have a court judgment issued against the State enforced in full (see Lizanets, cited above, §§ 41-45). The Court, therefore, rejects this objection.3. Conclusion23. The Court notes that this complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible.B. Merits24. The applicant claimed that the lengthy non-enforcement of a court judgment in his favour infringed his rights guaranteed by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.25. In their observations, the Government contented that the delay in the enforcement of the judgment of 11 September 2001 was caused by the applicant’s failure to apply in a timely manner for its compulsory enforcement.26. The Court, referring to its findings above (see paragraph 19), dismisses the Government’s argument. It further notes that at least until April 2005 the judgment remained unenforced because of the lack budgetary funds and not because of the applicant’s alleged failure to act.27. The Court further notes that on 11 September 2001 the Bereznivsky Court awarded the applicant UAH 50,000 against the State. This award has not been paid to date, i.e. for six years and four months.28. The Court recalls that it has already found violations of Article 6 of the Convention in cases raising issues similar to the present application (see, for example Voytenko, cited above, §§ 53-55 and Vodopyanovy v. Ukraine, no. 22214/02, §§ 31-36, 17 January 2006).29. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court considers that the Government have not put forward any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion in the present case.30.

Outcome for Article 6: violation