4.  The applicants were born in 1940 and 1938 and live in Oniceni and Cornu Luncii respectively. 5.  On 11 October 1995 the Fălticeni Court of First Instance upheld an action by the applicants and authorised them to recover in co-ownership, as their mother’s heirs, a plot of land measuring 0.26 hectares situated in Cornu Luncii village, in a place known as Cotromanţi.
The first page of that judgment states that it became final on 7 November 1995. That statement is accompanied by a signature and a stamp of the Court of First Instance. According to the Government, the judgment became final on 28 November 1996, when an appeal by G.M., a third party intervening in the proceedings, was dismissed as groundless. The Government did not submit either a copy of the alleged judgment of 28 November 1996 or any other document making reference to that judgment. 6.  On 21 November 1995 the authorities granted third parties title to a plot of land measuring 0.15 hectares situated at Cotromanţi. According to the Government, the land formed part of the plot of 0.26 hectares granted to the applicants by the judgment of 11 October 1995. 7.  On 20 August 1997 the third parties sold that land to G.M. 8.  On 6 May 1996 the applicants brought administrative proceedings against the local commission in Cornu Luncii responsible for the application of Law no. 18/1991 (“the local commission”), seeking to take possession of the 0.26 hectares of land at Cotromanţi. On 21 November 1996 the Suceava County Court upheld the action and ordered the local commission to enable them to take possession of the land at Cotromanţi. That judgment became final. 9.  On 1 September 1997 the applicants brought proceedings against G.M. seeking annulment of the sale of 20 August 1997. On 13 December 2002 the Suceava Court of Appeal dismissed the action in a final decision, taking the view that G.M. had acted in good faith. 10.  Between 1997 and 2003, according to the applicants, they lodged several criminal complaints against the mayor alleging abuse of authority and non-compliance with court decisions. The public prosecutor found no grounds which would justify initiating a criminal action against the mayor. On 25 November 1998 and 26 June 2001 these decisions were upheld by the senior prosecutor. 11.  On 14 July 1998 the Court of First Instance, in an enforceable decision, upheld an action by the applicants and ordered the local commission to enable them to take possession of the 0.26 hectares of land at Cotromanţi. It ordered the mayor, in his capacity as chairman of the local commission, to pay the applicants a pecuniary penalty of 3,000 Romanian lei (ROL) for each day’s delay in enforcement. 12.  On 8 January 2001 the County Court, by an enforceable decision, increased the amount of the daily pecuniary penalty to ROL 150,000 at the applicants’ request, considering the mayor to be acting in bad faith and ignoring the law. 13.  On 14 September 2001 the County Court, by an enforceable decision, allowed an action by the applicants and attached the accounts of the Cornu Luncii Town Council with the Fălticeni Treasury up to an amount of ROL 77,700,000 and, for the future, up to ROL 150,000 per day. 14.  On 3 April 2003 the applicants lodged an action seeking, inter alia, to have the title of the third parties who had sold the land to G.M. declared partially null and void, in respect of a surface area of 0.13 hectares.
On 14 September 2006 the Court of Appeal, by a final decision, allowed the action taking the view, inter alia, that the land had belonged to the applicants’ mother and therefore had been illegally included in the third parties’ title. 15.  On 5 June 2003 the bailiff, at the applicants’ request, asked the court to authorise the seizure of up to ROL 172,750,000. 16.  On 19 December 2003 the County Court, by a final decision, dismissed the request on the ground that the judgment of 8 January 2001 did not represent an enforceable title because the coercive fine was of a provisional nature and therefore it was only after enforcement of the obligation to enable the applicants to take possession that the actual amount of damage caused by the delay in enforcement could be established. 17.  On 10 August 2006 the applicants brought proceedings to have the sale of 20 August 1997 declared partially null and void, in respect of 0.13 hectares of land, and to require G.M. to remove a fence built on that land. 18.  On 4 January 2008 the Court of First Instance allowed the action, taking the view that G.M. had acted in bad faith when he purchased the land. That judgment became final on 27 May 2008. 19.  On 13 February 1998 the local commission invited the first applicant to take possession of a plot of 0.26 hectares of land. She refused, as the land was not situated in the original location. 20.  On 10 November 2003 the Town Council certified in an official record that the first applicant had refused to take possession of 0.35 hectares of land at Cotromanţi, as that land was the subject matter of court proceedings. 21.  According to the Government, on 20 July 2006 the local commission made a fresh attempt to enable the applicants to take possession, but was hindered by G.M., who had title to part of the land. 22.  On 24 March 2008 the local commission invited the first applicant to its headquarters with a view to enforcing the 1995 judgment. As the judgment of 4 January 2008 had not become final at the time, the parties agreed to adjourn enforcement until it had become final. 23.  On 14 August 2008 the Town Council certified in an official record that the applicants had been able to take possession of, inter alia, 0.26 hectares of land at Cotromanţi. The applicants signed the official record.