European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 24952/02
by Henryk and Adam KRZYŻANOWSKI
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 15 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 Henryk Krzyżanowski (“the first applicant”) and Mr Adam Krzyżanowski (“the second applicant”), are Polish nationals who were born in 1924 and 1931 respectively and live in Grodkόw.

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. 24952/02

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

On 23 February 1993 the Nysa District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) gave a decision declaring that the applicants had acquired their late sister's estate and that they were entitled to receive one half each.

On 26 February 1999 the applicants obtained a certificate issued by the Mayor of Brzeg (Starosta) confirming that they had the right to compensation for the property abandoned by their family in the territories beyond the Bug River, valued at 256,000.00 Polish zlotys (PLN). The document stated that the claim had already been partly realised. The remainder of the claim amounted to PLN 240,641.41.

On 25 May 2001 the applicants lodged a claim for compensation for the Bug River property against the State Treasury. On 20 July 2001 the Wrocław Regional Court (Sąd Apelacyjny) dismissed the applicants' request to be exempted from court fees in view of the obvious lack of a legal basis for the claim.

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 15 February 2007 the Governor of Opole (Wojewoda) issued a document confirming that the applicants had the right to compensation amounting to 20% of the current value of the original property. It emerges from the document that the remainder of the applicants' claim amounted to PLN 45,138.69.

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