FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 19816/02
by Maria CZARKOWSKA
against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 29 January 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza, President,
Josep Casadevall,
Giovanni Bonello,
Kristaq Traja,
Stanislav Pavlovschi,
Lech Garlicki,
Ljiljana Mijović, judges,
and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 9 March 2001,

Having regard to the decision to apply the pilot-judgment procedure and to adjourn its consideration of applications deriving from the same systemic problem identified in the case of Broniowski v. Poland (no. 31443/96),

Having regard to the decisions to strike the applications Wolkenberg and Others v. Poland (no. 50003/99) and Witkowska-Toboła v. Poland (no. 11208/02) out of the Court’s list of cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Ms Maria Czarkowska, is a Polish national who was born in 1942 and lives in Jelenia Góra.

A. The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

1. Background

Before the Second World War the applicant’s mother owned real property in the eastern provinces of pre-war Poland, the so-called “Borderlands” (Kresy). Those regions included large areas of present-day Belarus and Ukraine and territories around Vilnius in what is now Lithuania. In September 1939 the regions were invaded by the USSR.

Following the end of the war, when the Polish eastern border was redrawn westwards and fixed along the Bug River, the Borderlands acquired the name of the “territories beyond the Bug River” (ziemie zabużańskie).

On an unspecified date following 9 September 1944 the applicant’s family, like some 1,240,000 other Polish citizens who were at various dates from 1944 to 1953 subject to repatriation from the territories beyond the Bug River, was repatriated to Poland under the provisions of the so-called “Republican Agreements” (umowy republikańskie).

A more detailed account of the historical background and the relevant provisions of the Republican Agreements and other related treaties and laws can be found in the Court’s judgment in the pilot case of Broniowski v. Poland (see, in particular, Broniowski v. Poland [GC], no. 31443/96, ECHR 2004-V, §§ 10-12 and 39-45).

2. The applicant’s attempts to recover compensation

On 27 June 1988, the Wałbrzych District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) gave a decision declaring that the applicant had acquired the entire estate left by her late mother.

On 6 July 1990 the Jelenia Góra Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) gave a declaratory judgment stating that the applicant’s mother had owned real property in the territories beyond the Bug River.

On 8 September 1990 the applicant obtained a valuation report which estimated the value of the abandoned property at 555.290,900 Polish zlotys (PLN).

On 17 July 2001 the applicant lodged a claim for compensation for the Bug River property against the State Treasury. The applicant sought full compensation for the original property. On 31 July 2001 the Jelenia Góra Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed the applicant’s request to be exempted from court fees. On 18 October 2001 the Wrocław Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) dismissed the applicant’s appeal. In view of the amount of the court fees, she decided not to pursue the claim.

The applicant’s subsequent attempts to acquire State property were unsuccessful. The only possibility of enforcing the claim was to participate in competitive bids for the sale of State property. However, the State authorities throughout Poland officially acknowledged the acute shortage of State-owned land designated for the realisation of the Bug River