CASE OF POPOV AND CHONIN v. BULGARIA
Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions)
George Nicolaou;Guido Raimondi;Krzysztof Wojtyczek;Ledi Bianku;Nona Tsotsoria;Paul Mahoney;Zdravka Kalaydjieva
5. The applicants were born in 1930 and 1953 respectively and live in Sofia. 6. Mr Popov is an heir of Mr M. and Mr Chonin is an heir of Ms F. Mr Popov is entitled to one eighth of the inheritance of Mr M., and Mr Chonin to one ninth of the inheritance of Ms F. The applicants’ two predecessors were co-owners of an afforested island in the Danube, currently named Tsibar, measuring, at the time of expropriation, 1,048,000 square metres. Ms F. owned another afforested island measuring 400,000 square metres and other forestry land on the shores of the Danube, totalling 9,300 square metres. 7. The above-mentioned land was nationalised in 1948. 8. As a result of the Danube’s fluvial activity over the years, Tsibar island’s area has increased and it currently measures about 1,500,000 square metres. The second island no longer exists. 9. On 21 October 1998, following the adoption of the 1997 Forests Restitution Act (see paragraph 27 below), Mr Popov and Mr Chonin’s mother, whom Mr Chonin later succeeded, applied for the restitution of their predecessors’ forests and forestry land. 10. By two decisions of 12 December 2000 the Valchedram land commission acknowledged that the heirs of Mr M. and Ms F. had the right to restitution or compensation. Finding that actual restitution was impossible because the forests had become “exclusive State property” (“изключителна държавна собственост”, see paragraph 28 below), the commission decided that the heirs would receive compensation bonds. Those decisions were served on the applicants on 5 October 2001. 11. In the meantime, legislative amendments entered into force repealing the provisions allowing the award of compensation bonds for properties falling under the Forests Restitution Act (see paragraph 27 below) and providing for a sole means of compensation, namely in the form of equivalent State-own land. 12. In the Valchedram district where the forests belonging to the applicants’ predecessors had been situated there was insufficient Stateowned land to compensate the applicants and the remaining heirs. In a letter dated 2 July 2003 the Ministry of Agriculture therefore instructed the relevant authorities in the neighbouring Montana district to identify appropriate land. 13. In two decisions of 17 October 2003 the Montana Agriculture and Forestry Department allotted to the heirs of Mr M. a plot of 542,500 square metres, and to the heirs of Ms F. a plot of 933,800 square metres in the Montana district. 14. On 16 March 2004 the applicants applied for judicial review of those decisions, arguing that the allotted land and the forests were not equivalent to the ones their predecessors had owned. 15. On 27 December 2007, the Montana District Court gave a judgment in the proceedings brought by Mr Popov. Noting that the land and the forests allotted by way of compensation to the heirs of Mr M. were not equivalent to those owned by him in the past, it quashed the respective decision of the Agriculture and Forestry Department of 17 October 2003. Furthermore, on the basis of an expert report commissioned by it, the District Court observed that there were appropriate forests in the area of the village of Gorna Byala Rechka in the adjacent Varshets district. It thus remitted the case for a fresh examination with a view to allotting land in the specified area to the heirs. 16. The judgment was not appealed against and entered into force on 4 March 2008. 17. In a new decision dated 25 February 2009 the Montana Agriculture Department (former Agriculture and Forestry Department) refused to allot the land in the Montana district to the heirs of Mr M., reasoning that the State-owned forests in that area were not sufficient and that the compensation should be provided in the neighbouring Lom district. 18. On an unspecified date Mr Popov challenged that decision before the Montana District Court. In a judgment of 9 November 2012 that court declared the decision null and void as it contradicted the judgment of 27 December 2007 (see paragraph 15 above). It noted, in addition, that it had already been established that there were no appropriate forests in the Lom district. On the basis of expert reports commissioned by it, the District Court identified in the adjacent districts eleven different plots that were suitable to be provided to the heirs of Mr M., and acknowledged their right to receive those plots as compensation. 19. That judgment does not appear to have been appealed against and entered into force on an unspecified date. 20. In execution of the judgment, in three decisions given in January and February 2013 the Berkovitsa and Roman Agriculture Departments allotted to the heirs of Mr M. several plots of forestry land measuring 319,984 square metres in total. 21. In their submissions dated 21 February 2013 the Government assured the Court that the adoption of decisions transferring the remaining land to the heirs of Mr M. was imminent. 22. In the judicial-review proceedings brought by Mr Chonin against the respective decision of the Montana Agriculture and Forestry Department of 17 October 2003, the Montana District Court issued a judgment on 6 July 2007. It found that the land allotted as compensation to the heirs of Ms F. was indeed of manifestly lower quality than the one previously owned by her. It also found that in the area of the village of Gorno Orizovo in the adjacent Varshets district, there was a plot of forestry land which was equivalent in quality to those previously owned by Ms F. and was even bigger in size. It thus quashed the Montana Agriculture and Forestry Department’s decision of 17 October 2003, acknowledged that the heirs of Ms F. had the right to part of the bigger plot as compensation, and held that it was for the local Agriculture and Forestry Department to apportion the allotted land. 23. That judgment was not appealed against and entered into force on an unspecified date. 24. During the applicants’ ensuing contacts with the authorities it became clear that the afforested area indicated in the judgment of 6 July 2007 was within the territory of the “Vrachanski Balkan” natural park and as such was public property; thus it could not be provided as compensation to the heirs of Ms F. That was pointed out in two letters sent to the applicants, dated respectively 26 August and 10 September 2008, by the Ministry of Agriculture and the administration of the Council of Ministers. 25. It appears that for several years after that, the authorities made no effort to enforce the judgment of 6 July 2007 or to identify other land to be provided to the heirs of Ms F. Not until 23 January 2013 did a commission consisting of members of different State bodies, appointed by the head of the Regional Directorate of Agriculture in Montana, identify thirty-four plots of land in the adjacent districts, measuring 452,024 square metres, which could be provided as compensation to the heirs of Ms F. 26. In their submissions dated 21 February 2013 the Government pointed out that the process would continue, and that the identification of the remaining plots to be transferred to the heirs was imminent.