European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 44346/02
by Zbigniew HELON
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 2 October 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 Zbigniew Helon, is a Polish national who was born in 1937 and lives in Newtown, Australia.

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. 44346/02

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

On 20 February 1997 the Head of the Oława District Office (Kierownik Urzędu Rejonowego) issued a decision confirming that the applicant's mother had the right to compensation for the property abandoned by her in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On 14 April 1998 the applicant obtained a certificate issued by the Head of the Oława District Office confirming that the applicant's mother had the right to compensation for the property abandoned by their family, valued at 197,947 Polish zlotys (PLN) as of March 1998. The value of the original property according to a new valuation report of 20 July 2000 amounted to PLN 263,456.

On an unspecified date the applicant lodged a claim for compensation for the Bug River property against the State Treasury. The action was unsuccessful. The claim was dismissed on 3 January 2001. The court found that his claim lacked any legal basis.

On 18 June 2003 the Oława District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) gave a decision declaring that the applicant had acquired the entire estate left by his mother.

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).

The applicant did not inform the Court whether he 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