FIFTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 8462/05
by Oleg Vladimirovich PROTZENKO
against Bulgaria
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 5 October 2010 as a Committee composed of:
	Rait Maruste, President,
	Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
	Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Stephen Phillips, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 18 February 2005,
Having regard to the partial decision of 30 June 2009,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The application was lodged by Mr Oleg Vladimirovich Protzenko, a Ukrainian national who was born in 1969. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Mrs N. Nikolova and Mr V. Obretenov from the Ministry of Justice.
The complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the length of two sets of criminal proceedings against the applicant were communicated to the Government on 9 July 2009. At the same time the Court initiated a friendly settlement procedure and invited the applicant to state whether he accepted the proposed terms. The letter was sent to the correspondence address designated by the applicant, but no response was received.
In a letter dated 4 November 2009, sent by registered mail, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of the friendly settlement declaration had expired on 22 September 2009 and that no extension of time had been requested. The applicant was invited to inform the Court by 24 November 2009 whether he still wished to pursue the application. His attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike a case out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application. The letter sent to the applicant's address was returned on 1 December 2009 as “unclaimed”.
On 2 December 2009 the Government submitted their observations on the admissibility and merits of the application. The observations were forwarded to the applicant, who was invited to submit his own observations. No reply was received to the Registry's letter.
In a letter dated 12 March 2010, sent by registered mail, the applicant was notified that the period allowed for submission of his observations on the admissibility and merits and his just satisfaction claims had expired on 28 January 2010 and that no extension of time had been requested. The applicant's attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention once again. This letter was received on 19 March 2010. However, no response has been received.
No further correspondence has been received from the applicant whose last communication to the Court dates back to 24 October 2007.
THE LAW
The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue his application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
	Stephen Phillips	Rait Maruste
	Deputy Registrar	President