European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 51571/07
by Władysława IWASZKO
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 12 November 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 Władysława Iwaszko, is a Polish national who was born in 1936 and lives in Wrocław.

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. 51571/07

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

On 10 February 1998 the applicant asked the Wrocław District Office (Urząd Rejonowy) to enable her to acquire State property in compensation for the property abandoned in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On the same day the authorities informed her that her claim had been entered in the relevant register as claim no. 18/98 but its realisation depended on the adoption of future measures by Parliament in respect of Bug River claims.

On 17 July 2003 the Mayor of Wrocław (Prezydent Miasta) 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 remainder of the claim (83.07%) was valued at 196,534 Polish zlotys (PLN).

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 7 March 2006 the Dolnośląski Governor (Wojewoda) issued a document confirming that the applicant had the right to the remainder of the compensation amounting to PLN 7,263.28.

On 16 October 2007 the authorities informed the applicant that the payment of the compensation was to be effected in the first half of 2008.

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