[ALBSA-Info] Interesting Ruling by ECHR

[Agron Alibali]

 ECHR: Greece violated right to fair hearing and protection of property of Turks in case of 1933 expropriation


933
6.12.2001

Press release issued by the Registrar
http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/Press/2001/Dec/6Dec2001judsepress.htm

Judgment (in French)
http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/Hudoc2doc2/HFJUD/200112/yagtzilar%20-%2041727jv.ch
b2%2006122001f.doc

CHAMBER JUDGMENTS CONCERNING GREECE, ITALY AND PORTUGAL

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing the
following 41 Chamber judgments, none of which is final [fn1]:

SECTION 1

(1) Yagtzilar and others v. Greece (application no. 41727/98) Violation
Article 6 & Article 1 Protocol No. 1

The ten applicants, all Turkish nationals, are former owners of an olive
plantation in Chalkidiki, Northern Greece, which was taken over by Greece
in 1925 in order to accommodate refugees from Asia Minor. Expropriation of
the plantation was declared in 1933 and the procedure to allocate
compensation began in December 1933. The Greek courts rejected several
times the Government’s submission that the applicants’ compensation claim
was out of time. However, on 17 July 1995 the Court of Appeal found that
their claim had been out of time since at least 1971. The proceedings ended
on 15 July 1997 with a judgment from the Court of Cassation confirming the
Court of Appeal judgment. The applicants received no compensation.

They complained about the excessive length of the proceedings, which lasted
over 63 years, of which the European Court of Human Rights could take into
account [fn2] nine years and 16 days. They also maintained that, by
deciding that their right to compensation was out of time, the Greek courts
deprived them of their right to access to a court and of their right to
property. Before the European Court of Human Rights, they claim
31,849,244,217 Greek drachmas (GRD) plus GRD 33,896,889,841 in interest for
pecuniary damage and GRD 157,754,000 for costs and expenses.

The Court noted, among other things, that the Greek courts decided that the
claim for compensation was out of time at an advanced stage of the
proceedings, which the applicants had pursued diligently and in good faith.
The Court also found that the Greek Government had not explained in a
convincing manner why the applicants had received no compensation.

The Court held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6
(right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights, both
concerning the right of access to a court and the length of the
proceedings. The Court also held, unanimously, that there had been a
violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) of the
Convention and reserved the application of Article 41 (just satisfaction)
to a later date. (The judgment is available only in French.)



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