European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 41771/02
by Eugeniusz MACH
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 20 November 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 applicant, Mr Eugeniusz Mach, is a Polish national who was born in 1950 and lives in Nysa.

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. 41771/02

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

On an unspecified date the applicant asked the District Office in Nysa to enable him to acquire State property in compensation for the property abandoned by his family in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On 17 December 1992 the authorities informed the applicant that his claim had been entered in the relevant register as claim no. 275.

On 16 March 1993 the Nysa District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) gave a decision declaring that the applicant had acquired part of his late parents' estate.

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 14 November 2006 the Dolnośląski Governor (Wojewoda) issued a decision confirming that the applicant and his siblings had the right to compensation for the property abandoned by their family. They were asked to submit a valuation report within 6 months. The applicant produced a valuation report of 17 September 2004, which estimated the value of the abandoned property at 175,000.00 Polish zlotys (PLN).

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