ention, the Court decides to consider them in a single judgment.
II. Locus standi as regards applications
Nos. 28888/06 and 31419/06
32. The Court notes firstly the fact of the death of Mr N.P. Zakharov, one of the applicants, and the wish of Mr V.N. Zakharov, his son, to pursue the proceedings he initiated. Likewise, it is noted that Mrs T.N. Melnikova expressed her wish to maintain the case of her late husband, Mr N.N. Melnikov, applicant in case No. 31419/06.
A. The parties' submissions
33. With reference to the case of Belskiy v. Russia ((dec.), No. 23593/03, 26 November 2009) the Government submitted that neither Mr V.N. Zakharov nor Mrs T.N. Melnikova had standing to pursue the cases of their late relatives. The award in the applicants' favour was made in respect of the pension arrears. The pension rights were not transferable. Under the domestic law, the succession included the deceased's property or pecuniary rights or claims but did not include rights or obligations intrinsically linked to the deceased's person. The late applicants' relatives had not inherited the claim in respect of the judgment debt. Furthermore, the judgments had been annulled and thus no judgment debt existed at the moment of the applicants' death. Therefore, the applications should be struck out of the Court's list of cases pursuant to Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention.
34. Mrs T.N. Melnikova and Mr V.N. Zakharov maintained their submissions arguing that they were entitled to claim unpaid pension arrears due to their late relatives in accordance with section 63 of the Federal Law on Pension Welfare of Military Service Personnel. Indeed, the pension arrears were awarded to the applicants and thus were payable, but the applicants had not received the respective sums in their lifetime. Mrs T.N. Melnikova and Mr V.N. Zakharov were in charge of the applicants' funeral. Thus, they had title to receive the unpaid pension. The fact that the judgments had been quashed did not have any impact on the standing issue. Accordingly, they had a legitimate interest to maintain the applications in their respective late relatives' stead.
B. The Court's assessment
35. Article 37 § 1 of the Convention reads in the relevant part as follows:
"1. The Court may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that...
(c) for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application.
However, the Court shall continue the examination of the application if respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto so requires..."
1. General principles
36. The Court reiterates that in a number of cases in which an applicant has died in the course of the proceedings before the Court it has taken into account the statements of the applicant's heirs or of close family members expressing the wish to pursue the proceedings, or the existence of a legitimate interest claimed by a person wishing to pursue the application (see {Leger} v. France (striking out) [GC], No. 19324/02, § 43, ECHR 2009-..., with further references). The Court interprets the concept of "victim" autonomously and irrespective of domestic concepts such as those concerning an interest or capacity to act (see Micallef v. Malta [GC], No. 17056/06, § 48, ECHR 2009-...; and Sanles Sanles v. Spain (dec.), No. 48335/99, ECHR 2000-XI). In this connection the Court has to consider whether or not the persons wishing to pursue the proceedings were the applicant's close relatives. Moreover, as a second criterion, the Court has to examine whether the rights concerned were transferable (
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