European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 24698/02
by Eugeniusz and Ryszard DUBIELEWSKI
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 11 June 2002,

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 applicants, Mr Eugeniusz Dubielewski (“the first applicant”) and Mr Ryszard Dubielewski (“the second applicant”), are Polish nationals who were born in 1935 and 1931 respectively and live in Świdnik.

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. 24698/02

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

On 18 February 1994 the Lublin District Office (Urząd Rejonowy) issued a certificate confirming that the applicants' late father's claim for compensation for property abandoned in the territories beyond the Bug River had been registered.

On 15 April 1996 the Lublin District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) gave a decision declaring that the applicants had acquired their late father's estate and that they were entitled to receive one half each.

On 8 February 2001 the applicants obtained a document issued by Mayor of the Świdnik Distict (Starosta) stating that the current value of the original property amounted to 224,292.00 Polish zlotys (PLN) as of January 2001.

The applicants' 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 2 September 2004 the Trawniki Commune Office (Urząd Gminy) issued a document confirming that the applicants had not received any compensation for the property abandoned in the territories beyond the Bug River.

The applicants did not inform the Court whether they had initiated proceedings under 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”) in order to obtain compensation for the Bug River property.

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