European Court of Human Rights

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 38626/08
by Maria ZALEWSKA-BUJARA
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 6 August 2008,

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 Zalewska-Bujara, is a Polish national who was born in 1937 and lives in Mikołów. She was represented before the Court by Mr R. Nowosielski, a lawyer practising in Gdańsk.

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. 38626/08

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

On 11 April 2000 the applicant obtained a certificate issued by the Mayor of the Mikołów District (Starosta) confirming that she had the right to compensation for the property abandoned by her mother in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On an unspecified date the applicant acquired two compensatory plots of land, valued at 61,300 Polish zlotys (PLN).

The applicant’s subsequent attempts to recover the remainder of the compensation 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 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 16 August 2005 the applicant lodged a claim for compensation for the Bug River property against the State Treasury. The applicant sought the remainder of the compensation for the original property in the amount of PLN 1,253,779. The action was unsuccessful. On 30 November 2006 the Warsaw Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed her claim. On 26 February 2008 the Warsaw Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) upheld the judgment. The courts found, in particular, 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 amount of compensation to 20 % of the original property’s value, the applicant can at any time institute proceedings under the July 2005 Act in order to recover the remainder of the 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