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European Court of Human Rights
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> European Court of Human Rights >> ANTONENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE - 45009/13 (Judgment : Protection of property : Fifth Section Committee) [2020] ECHR 168 (20 February 2020)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2020/168.html
Cite as: [2020] ECHR 168
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FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF ANTONENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE
(Applications nos. 45009/13 and 53 others -
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
20 February 2020
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Antonenko and Others v. Ukraine,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President,
Mārtiņš Mits,
Lәtif Hüseynov, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 30 January 2020,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
1. The case originated in applications against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table
2. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the blanket ban on alienation of their agricultural land.
THE LAW
I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 1 of Protocol No. 1
6. The applicants complained that the legislative restrictions applicable to their land had breached their right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions, guaranteed by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, which reads as follows:
Article 1
“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.
The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties.”
7. The Court reiterates that not only must an interference with the right of property be lawful and pursue, on the facts as well as in principle, a “legitimate aim” in the “general interest”, but there must also be a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim sought to be realised by any measures applied by the State, including measures designed to control the use of the individual’s property. That requirement is expressed by the notion of a “fair balance” that must be struck between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual’s fundamental rights (see Hutten-Czapska v. Poland [GC], no. 35014/97, § 167, ECHR 2006‑VIII).
8. In the leading case of Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine (nos. 846/16 and 1075/16, 22 May 2018), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case. The Court observed that Ukraine was the only Council of Europe member State with a general ban on sale or any other form of alienation of agricultural land. Given the lack of consistent reasons given for not adopting alternative solutions and the excessive burden imposed on the applicants, the Court concluded that the respondent State had overstepped its wide margin of appreciation in this area and had not struck a fair balance between the general interest of the community and the property rights of the applicants.
9. In the present applications, having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the State failed to strike a fair balance between the general interest of the community and the property rights of the applicants.
10. These applications are therefore admissible and there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.
III. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
11. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”
12. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine, cited above, §§ 150, 154-157 and 161), the Court considers that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
1. Decides to join the applications;
2. Declares the applications admissible;
3. Holds that there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1;
4. Holds that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 20 February 2020, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv Tigerstedt Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention
(blanket ban on alienation of agricultural land)
|
Application no. Date of introduction |
Applicant’s name Date of birth |
Description of plot of land |
Document as evidence of ownership of the plot of land | |
|
|
45009/13 05/07/2013 |
Mykhaylo Oleksandrovych ANTONENKO 31/07/1973 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.55 and 5.28 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 7 August 2012 |
|
|
50570/14 02/07/2014 |
Nina Sergiyivna MIROSHNYCHENKO 14/09/1955 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2.3571 hectares in Cherkasy Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 18 November 2008 |
|
|
59347/15 18/11/2015 |
Eduard Vasylyovych PROKOPCHENKO 19/05/1939 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 0.22 and 5.47 hectares in Luhansk Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 15 February 2008 |
|
|
59356/15 20/11/2015 |
Petro Oleksandrovych IVANOV 15/10/1964 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.86 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 22 July 2005 |
|
|
59386/15 21/11/2015 |
Mykola Pavlovych GRYSHCHENKO 01/01/1947 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 2.0072 and 0.3771 hectares in Kyiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 7 September 2007 |
|
|
59500/15 18/11/2015 |
Tetyana Ivanivna ZUYEVA 26/04/1957 |
A plot of agricultural land of 3.2 hectares in Donetsk Region |
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 13 January 2014 |
|
|
59534/15 17/11/2015 |
Volodymyr Yakovlevych LYSKO 19/04/1975 |
A plot of agricultural land of 7.52 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 14 August 2006 |
|
|
59698/15 18/11/2015 |
Viktoriya Vasylivna ANNOPOLSKA 11/10/1970 |
A plot of agricultural land of 13.2843 hectares in Kharkiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 19 June 2008 |
|
|
60004/15 20/11/2015 |
Petro Oleksandrovych IVANOV 15/10/1964 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2.21 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Certificate of Inheritance Rights of 16 June 2009 |
|
|
60269/15 23/11/2015 |
Olena Ivanivna YANYEVA 18/04/1959 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.4487 hectares in Odesa Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 7 September 2010 |
|
|
60480/15 25/11/2015 |
Stepan Yakovych YANYEV 24/11/1958 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.4655 hectares in Odesa Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 24 October 2011 |
|
|
60820/15 26/11/2015 |
Valeriy Volodymyrovych STADNIK 03/04/1953 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 3.36 and 3.48 hectares in Khmelnytsky Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 5 June 2003 and 30 December 2003 |
|
|
60840/15 24/11/2015 |
Stepan Ivanovych NIKOLAYENKO 09/01/1952 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 2.7285 and 3.0777 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 19 September 2011 |
|
|
60853/15 25/11/2015 |
Mariya Vasylivna KOLESNYK 31/10/1938 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2.95 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 13 September 2006 |
|
|
60857/15 16/11/2015 |
Volodymyr Petrovych IVANOV 28/12/1960 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.68 and 0.3449 hectares in Kyiv Region |
Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 10 April 2015 |
|
|
61364/15 01/12/2015 |
Pavlo Dmytrovych STELMASHCHUK 26/04/1975 |
A plot of agricultural land of 0.463 hectares in Khmelnytsky Region |
Immovable Property Ownership Certificate of 24 November 2015 |
|
|
61847/15 29/11/2015 |
Sergiy Mykolayovych YAROVYY 07/08/1962 |
A plot of agricultural land of 16.73 hectares in Kherson Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 20 October 2004 |
|
|
62432/15 08/12/2015 |
Andriy Tymofiyovych PAVLOV 08/09/1985 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.84 hectares in Odesa Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 29 November 2004 |
|
|
62460/15 04/12/2015 |
Tetyana Volodymyrivna KUCHERENKO 07/02/1973 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.9295 hectares in Odesa Region |
Immovable Property Ownership Certificate of 30 November 2015 |
|
|
62476/15 03/12/2015 |
Natalya Mykolayivna POLYAKOVA 02/12/1954 |
A plot of agricultural land of 9.2586 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 20 August 2010 |
|
|
62665/15 08/12/2015 |
Nikolay Ivanovich DROBOT 29/05/1960 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 2.46 and 2.46 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 12 October 2010 and 11 October 2012 |
|
|
534/16 14/12/2015 |
Alisa Mykolayivna SHVETS 28/04/1986 |
A plot of agricultural land of 7.4457 hectares in Kirovohrad Region |
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 4 December 2013 |
|
|
535/16 14/12/2015 |
Alisa Mykolayivna SHVETS 28/04/1986 |
A plot of agricultural land of 7.2318 hectares in Kirovohrad Region |
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 10 September 2014 |
|
|
924/16 11/12/2015 |
Tetyana Mykhaylivna BURDEYNA 03/07/1969 |
A plot of agricultural land of 5.98 hectares in Odesa Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 30 March 2005 |
|
|
978/16 10/12/2015 |
Nina Mykolayivna SELEZNYOVA 26/08/1953 |
A plot of agricultural land of 7.04 hectares in Chernihiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 26 March 2003 |
|
|
1979/16 18/12/2015 |
Sofiya Oleksandrivna KAZMERCHUK 30/11/1937 |
A plot of agricultural land of 6.41 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 1 April 2003 |
|
|
1988/16 18/12/2015 |
Anatoliy Dmytrovych KAZMERCHUK 30/07/1935 |
A plot of agricultural land of 6.19 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 1 April 2003 |
|
|
2177/16 25/12/2015 |
Nadiya Semenivna YAKOVLYEVA 08/05/1958 |
A plot of agricultural land of 3.11 hectares in Kherson Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 24 February 2004 |
|
|
7518/16 30/01/2016 |
Iuliyana Ivanivna PUCHKOVA 04/07/1957 |
A plot of agricultural land of 6.7586 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 8 July 2006 |
|
|
7843/16 20/01/2016 |
Oleksandr Mykolayovych POLUSHKIN 25/05/1957 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.12 hectares in Poltava Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 4 December 2003 |
|
|
8534/16 05/02/2016 |
Lyudmyla Onysiyivna KRUTS 29/05/1960 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.1277 and 1.1501 hectares in Odesa Region |
Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 9 December 2015 |
|
|
8628/16 20/01/2016 |
Olena Volodymyrivna POLUSHKINA 17/09/1968 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.12 hectares in Poltava Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 4 December 2003 |
|
|
10799/16 27/01/2016 |
Borys Oleksiyovych KIMNATNYY 08/07/1953 |
A plot of agricultural land of 5.767 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 8 August 2000 |
|
|
11628/16 14/02/2016 |
Tetyyana Gennadiyivna YAROVA 15/08/1966 |
A plot of agricultural land of 16.94 hectares in Kherson Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 20 October 2004 |
|
|
12768/16 24/02/2016 |
Oleg Viktorovych KATSARSKYY 15/06/1982 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2 hectares in Odesa Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 27 October 2003 |
|
|
14997/16 25/02/2016 |
Volodymyr Oleksiyovych GORENKO 03/07/1941 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.2743 hectares in Kirovohrad Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 2 December 2008 |
|
|
15407/16 09/03/2016 |
Illya Mykolayovych SHVAB 01/09/1937 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2.4691 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 18 October 2002 |
|
|
16892/16 10/03/2016 |
Viktor Vasylyovych PEROV 26/06/1949 |
A plot of agricultural land of 5.586 hectares in Luhansk Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 28 September 2004 |
|
|
19197/16 19/03/2016 |
Lyudmyla Ivanivna RYKOVA 20/06/1955 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 4.07 and 4.07 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 6 January 2005 |
|
|
27154/16 25/04/2016 |
Nataliya Volodymyrivna LOGVINOVA 02/12/1961 |
A plot of agricultural land of 3.84 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 31 August 2004 |
|
|
27365/16 25/04/2016 |
Galyna Mykhaylivna BOLDYREVA 30/03/1970 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 6.85 and 2.78 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificates of 1 November 2007 |
|
|
35452/16 08/06/2016 |
Lyudmyla Oleksiyivna KOZYRYEVA 15/06/1946 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.2697 hectares in Kirovohrad Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 18 August 2009 |
|
|
36306/16 16/06/2016 |
Oleksandr Mykolayovych BULYMENKO 13/11/1971 |
A plot of agricultural land of 10.59 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 10 September 2004 |
|
|
36309/16 16/06/2016 |
Lyudmyla Volodymyrivna BULYMENKO 19/06/1977 |
A plot of agricultural land of 10.53 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 7 August 2006 |
|
|
36319/16 16/06/2016 |
Oleksandra Mykolayivna BULYMENKO 22/01/1937 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.53 hectares in Mykolayiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 22 July 2010 |
|
|
44881/16 20/07/2016 |
Svitlana Volodymyrivna ZHURAVLYOVA 03/08/1981 |
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.2565 and 1.272 hectares in Odesa Region |
Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 13 July 2016 |
|
|
30321/18 16/06/2018 |
Sergiy Volodymyrovych YUZKIV 26/04/1980 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.7026 hectares in Vinnytsya Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 4 October 2012 |
|
|
24/19 27/11/2018 |
Olga Grygorivna CHEKANOVA 01/09/1959 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2.64 hectares in Odesa Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 6 August 2001 |
|
|
7056/19 16/01/2019 |
Sergiy Mykhaylovych YIVZHENKO 17/04/1972 |
A plot of agricultural land of 4.09 hectares in Poltava Region |
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 19 October 2013 |
|
|
11071/19 15/02/2019 |
Anatoliy Mykolayovych MAGDA 24/06/1959 |
A plot of agricultural land of 3.9146 hectares in Kharkiv Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 1 6 November 2012 |
|
|
11073/19 15/02/2019 |
Alyona Anatoliyivna MAGDA 03/12/1988 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.86 hectares in Kharkiv Region |
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 29 June 2017 |
|
|
13714/19 03/03/2019 |
Mariya Ivanivna NEZNAYKO 24/01/1921 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.32 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 25 October 2002 |
|
|
14033/19 01/03/2019 |
Tamara Ivanivna VOYNALOVYCH 02/04/1942 |
A plot of agricultural land of 1.41 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 25 October 2002 |
|
|
14036/19 01/03/2019 |
Oleksiy Oleksandrovych VOYNALOVYCH 03/05/1939 |
A plot of agricultural land of 2.6 hectares in Zhytomyr Region |
Land Ownership Certificate of 25 October 2002 |