CASE OF ŽILINSKIENĖ v. LITHUANIA
Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions)
András Sajó;Egidijus Kūris;Krzysztof Wojtyczek;Nona Tsotsoria;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque
5. The applicant was born in 1943 and lives in Šilėnai, in the Šiauliai Region. 6. In June 2000 the Radviliškis Land Department of the Šiauliai County Administration recognised L.S.G.’s right to the restoration of title to 4.07 hectares of land in the Radviliškis area. The plot of land in question had belonged to two other individuals, P.M. and E.M., and had been nationalised by the Soviet regime. 7. Later that month the applicant and L.S.G. signed a notarised agreement by which L.S.G. transferred (perleido) to the applicant the right to the restoration of title to 2.07 hectares of the above-mentioned plot of land. The agreement did not indicate whether the applicant had given any money to L.S.G. in exchange for this right. However, the applicant subsequently claimed (see paragraph 12 below) that she had paid 1,400 Lithuanian litai (LTL; approximately 405 euros (EUR)). 8. On 16 October 2001 the Šiauliai County Administration estimated that the value of the plot of land transferred to the applicant was LTL 2,124 (EUR 615). The Šiauliai County Administration then awarded the applicant the right of title to 1.78 hectares of land of equivalent value. The applicant registered the plot in the Land Registry under her own name. 9. In October 2004 the Special Investigation Service began investigating allegations of fraud, forgery of documents and abuse of office (under Articles 182, 228 and 300 of the Criminal Code) relating to the restoration of property rights by the Radviliškis Land Department. In January 2005 the prosecutor of the Šiauliai Region (hereinafter “the prosecutor”) launched a similar investigation. Subsequently, the two investigations were joined. 10. In May 2008 the prosecutor submitted a request to the Radviliškis District Court for the annulment of the agreement between the applicant and L.S.G. The prosecutor stated that L.S.G. had not had the right to the restitution of P.M. and E.M.’s land and thus could not legally have transferred that right to the applicant. 11. On 11 November 2008 the Radviliškis District Court granted the prosecutor’s request. The court held that L.S.G. had not been P.M. and E.M.’s relative or heir and thus, under the applicable law, had not been entitled to the restoration of title to their land (see paragraph 17 below). Therefore, the court declared the agreement between the applicant and L.S.G. null and void ab initio, confiscated the plot of land from the applicant, and returned it to the State. 12. During the proceedings the applicant claimed that she had paid LTL 1,400 (EUR 405) to L.S.G. for the right of title to the land, and L.S.G. acknowledged that she had received an unspecified sum of money. However, since no such payment had been mentioned in the text of their agreement, the court held that the right of title had been transferred to the applicant for free and did not award her any compensation. 13. On 17 February 2009 the Šiauliai Regional Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the decision of the lower court. The court found that the applicant had not proved that she had paid for the transfer of the right of title. It also noted that under the Civil Code, property which had been unlawfully obtained for free could be confiscated from an owner, irrespective of whether the owner had acquired such property in good faith (see paragraphs 19 and 20 below). 14. On 22 April 2009 the Supreme Court refused to examine a cassation appeal lodged by the applicant on the ground that it did not raise any important legal issues. 15. On 23 January 2009 the prosecutor instituted criminal proceedings before the Šiauliai District Court against S.D., a former official in the Radviliškis Land Department. S.D. was charged with several counts of forgery of documents and abuse of office under Articles 228 and 300 of the Criminal Code. She was accused of, inter alia, having acted together with L.S.G. in forging documents which purported to prove L.S.G.’s right to the restoration of title to certain property, with the aim of selling that right to other individuals. The indictment noted that L.S.G. had received approximately LTL 1,400 (EUR 405) from the applicant in exchange for the right to the restoration of title to the property in question. At the time of the parties’ final submissions to the Court, the criminal case was still awaiting examination before the first-instance court.