European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 24511/03
by Bernard JUZWENKO
against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 23 September 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza, President,
Lech Garlicki,
Giovanni Bonello,
Ljiljana Mijović,
David Thór Björgvinsson,
Ján Šikuta,
Päivi Hirvelä, judges,
and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 24 July 2003,

Having regard to the decision to apply the pilot-judgment procedure and to adjourn its consideration of applications deriving from the same systemic problem identified in the case of Broniowski v. Poland (no. 31443/96),

Having regard to the decisions to strike the applications Wolkenberg and Others v. Poland (no. 50003/99) and Witkowska-Toboła v. Poland (no. 11208/02) out of the Court’s list of cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Bernard Juzwenko, is a Polish national who was born in 1922 and lives in Wrocław.

A.  Historical background to Bug River cases before the Court

(See E.G. v. Poland, no. 50425/99, §§ 2-5).

B.  Particular circumstances of case no. 4330/07

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On 27 September 2000 the applicant asked the Head of the Wrocław Town Office (Urząd Miejski) to enable him to acquire State property in compensation for the property abandoned in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On the same day the authorities informed him that his claim had been entered in the relevant register as claim no. 29/2000 but its realisation depended on the adoption of future measures by Parliament in respect of Bug River claims.

On 31 May 2001 the Wrocław Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) gave a declaratory judgment stating that the applicant’s mother had owned real property in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On 28 January 2002 the Wrocław Regional Court gave a declaratory judgment stating that the applicant’s father had owned real property in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On 6 August 2002 the applicant lodged a claim for compensation for the Bug River property against the State Treasury. On 24 April 2003 the Wrocław Regional Court dismissed the action.

The applicant’s subsequent attempts to acquire State property were unsuccessful. The only possibility of enforcing the claim was to participate in competitive bids for the sale of State property. However, the State authorities throughout Poland officially acknowledged the acute shortage of State-owned land designated for the realisation of the Bug River claims.

This fact and the fact that at the material time it was the authorities’ common practice to desist from organising auctions for Bug River claimants or to openly deny them the opportunity to enforce their entitlement through the statutory bidding procedure was established by the Court in the Broniowski judgment (see Broniowski, cited above, §§ 48-61, 69-87 and 168-176).

On 26 April 2007 the applicant asked the Dolnośląski Governor (Wojewoda) to confirm his right to compensation for the Bug River property according to the relevant provisions of the Law on the realisation of the right to compensation for property left beyond the present borders of the Polish State (Ustawa o realizacji prawa do rekompensaty z tytułu pozostawienia nieruchomości poza obecnymi granicami państwa polskiego) (“the July 2005 Act”).

C.  Relevant domestic law and practice in respect of Bug River claims

(See E.G. v. Poland, no. 50425/99, §§ 16-17).

COMPLAINT

(See E.G. v. Poland, no. 50425/99, § 18).

THE LAW

(See E.G. v. Poland, no. 50425/99, §§ 19-29).

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Lawrence Early Nicolas Bratza
Registrar President