European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 16756/07
by Maria ZUBCZYŃSKA
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 5 April 2007,

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, Ms Maria Zubczyńska, is a Polish national who was born in 1941 and lives in Żagań. On 26 May 2004 the Zielona Góra Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) gave a decision declaring that the applicant lacked legal capacity. On 31 August 2004 the Żagań District Court gave a decision appointing her husband as her legal guardian.

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. 16756/07

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

On 19 December 1995 the Zielona Góra Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) gave a declaratory judgment stating that the applicant’s family had owned real property in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On 1 October 2003 the Mayor of the Żagań District (Starosta) issued a decision confirming that the applicant had the right to compensation for the property abandoned by her family. It emerges from this decision that the claim had already been partly realised. The full value of the original property amounted to 75,000 Polish zlotys (PLN). The value of the compensatory property was estimated at PLN 40,970. The remainder of the claim was valued at PLN 34,030.

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 23 March 2006 the authorities informed the applicant’s husband that 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”) which limited the compensation payable to 20 % of the original property’s value, her claim had already been satisfied.

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