8.  The applicants were born in 1941, 1942 and 1972 respectively and used to live in the hamlet of Plăieşii de Sus, in the district of Plăieşii de Jos, Harghita County. 9.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 10.  On 6 June 1991 a fight started in Plăieşii de Sus between four Roma and a nightwatchman. Following the events, a crowd made up of non-Roma villagers assaulted and beat up two Roma men in a revenge attack, fatally injuring one of them. 11.  On 8 June 1991 a public notice was displayed on the outer limit of the Roma settlement informing the inhabitants that on 9 June 1991 their houses would be set on fire. The Roma informed the police and village officials. However, the local authorities failed to intervene, preferring instead to “advise” the Roma to leave their homes for their own safety. 12.  On 9 June 1991 the Roma villagers, including the second applicant, fled their homes and sought refuge in a nearby stable belonging to the local farming cooperative while an organised group of non-Roma villagers destroyed all the Roma houses, including those belonging to the applicants. 13.  During the following year, the Roma villagers, including the applicants and their families, were forced to live in nearby stables in dreadful conditions, without heating or running water. The applicants only managed to survive with the help of their friends and family. 14.  The Harghita County Police Department, under the supervision of the Miercurea Ciuc District Prosecutor's Office started an investigation into the events. Some of the Roma from the hamlet who were questioned by the investigation team were able to give the names of possible suspects.
The final report concluded that the destruction by arson was caused by the fight on 6 June 1991 and the fact that the Roma were in the habit of putting their animals to graze on land belonging to non-Roma villagers. 15.  The local authorities are said to have expressed the opinion that the Roma themselves, or the “Gypsies” as they put it, “are to blame for what happened” as “they steal for a living and are aggressive towards other people”. 16.  On 27 June 1996 the Prosecutor's Office of the Harghita County Court closed the investigation on the ground that the prosecution of the offences was statute-barred. Its decision was upheld, upon the applicants' complaint, in a decision of 9 October 1998 of the Prosecutor's Office at the Supreme Court of Justice. 17.  The latter also found that the offences had been committed “as a result of serious acts of provocation by the victims” and considered that, given the large number of persons involved, it had been impossible to identify the perpetrators of the attack. 18.  On 9 September 1991 the mayor of Plăieşii de Jos purchased a dismantled wooden stable in order to provide the Roma with materials for the reconstruction of their homes. The purchase price of 110,400 Romanian lei (“ROL”) was funded by the County of Mureş, following a decision by the Prefect on 13 September 1991. The local authorities also gave the applicants permission to gather wood from a nearby forest. The destroyed houses were rebuilt by the applicants with the help of friends and relatives between 1991 and 1993.