CASE OF ANDREY MEDVEDEV v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions);Violation of Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life (Article 8-1 - Respect for home)
Alena Poláčková;Branko Lubarda;Dmitry Dedov;Georgios A. Serghides;Helen Keller;Luis López Guerra;Pere Pastor Vilanova
5. The applicant was born in 1980 and lives in Moscow. 6. Prior to its privatisation, the 31.1 square-metre flat at 12-5 Ulitsa Lavochkina, Moscow, had been owned by the City of Moscow. Sh. had resided there as a tenant under the social housing agreement with the city. 7. On 17 May 2003 Sh. died. 8. On 25 July 2003 Sh.’s ex-boyfriend, Un., and an unidentified person impersonating Sh. had their marriage registered in the Tambov Region. Un. then applied to the local housing office, where he presented his marriage certificate and was registered as residing in Sh.’s flat as a tenant. On 31 October 2003 the title to the flat was transferred to Un. under the privatisation scheme. On 25 December 2003 the privatisation transaction and Un.’s title to the flat were registered by the Moscow City Committee for Registration of Real Estate Transactions (the “City Registration Committee”). 9. On an unspecified date the prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation into Un.’s activities in respect of the flat and on 5 May 2005 the Golovinskiy District Court of Moscow found him guilty of fraud and sentenced him to a term of imprisonment. The flat was transferred to the Department for Housing of the City of Moscow (the “Housing Department”). 10. On 30 August 2005 the District Court granted claims lodged by the prosecutor on behalf of the city authorities and ordered the annulment of Un.’s marriage certificate and the privatisation agreement, and the revocation of his title to the flat. The parties did not appeal against that judgment and it became final. 11. When Un. was released in 2011, having served a prison sentence for fraud, the city authorities had not yet informed the City Registration Committee of the judgments of 5 May and 30 August 2005. Un. was therefore still officially registered as the flat’s owner and on 28 October 2011 he sold the flat to S. On 8 November 2011 the City Registration Committee registered the sale agreement and S.’s title to the flat. 12. On 22 December 2011 S. sold the flat to the applicant. The sale agreement was registered by the City Registration Committee on 29 December 2011. The applicant moved in and resided in the flat with his girlfriend. 13. On an unspecified date the Housing Department brought a civil claim against the applicant seeking, inter alia, (1) the revocation of the applicant’s title to the flat and his eviction; and (2) restitution of the flat to the City of Moscow. 14. On 30 October 2012 the District Court examined the case. It conceded that the applicant was a bona fide purchaser of the flat. Nevertheless, relying on Article 302 of the Russian Civil Code, the court granted the Housing Department’s claims, pointing out that it remained open to the applicant to sue S. in order to have his rights protected. The applicant appealed. 15. On 12 March 2013 the Moscow City Court upheld the judgment of 30 October 2012 on appeal. 16. On 3 June 2013 the City Court refused to grant the applicant leave to lodge a cassation appeal against the judgments of 30 October and 12 March 2013. 17. On 12 February 2014 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in a single-judge formation, dismissed a cassation appeal lodged by the applicant against the judgments of 30 October and 12 March 2013. 18. On 26 July 2013 the district bailiff’s service instituted enforcement proceedings in respect of the judgment of 30 October 2012. According to the applicant, he was evicted on 18 November 2013. 19. On 22 January 2014 the Sergiyev Posad Town Court of the Moscow Region granted a claim for damages against S. lodged by the applicant and awarded him 4,330,000 Russian roubles (RUB). On 28 February 2014 the judgment became final. 20. On an unspecified date the bailiff instituted enforcement proceedings in respect of the judgment of 22 January 2014. On 17 June 2014 the proceedings were discontinued as it had been impossible to establish S.’s whereabouts. 21. According to the Government, on 14 August 2014 the bailiff’s superior quashed the decision of 17 June 2014 and the enforcement proceedings are still pending.