VALKOVA v. BULGARIA - 48149/09 (Judgment : Article 6 - Right to a fair trial : Fifth Section Committee)

Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President, Yonko Grozev, Lәtif Hüseynov, judges, and Milan Blaško, Deputy Section Registrar,

The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 about having been deprived of access to a court as a result of the domestic courts' refusal to hear her inheritance claim on the basis of a newly adopted interpretative decision introducing a new procedural requirement with which the applicant could not comply. Article 6 § 1 of the Convention provides as follows:

"In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal ..."

"If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party."

(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months, EUR 6,000 (six thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of non-pecuniary damage, to be converted into Bulgarian levs at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;