FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF ANTONENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE
(Applications nos. 45009/13 and 53 others -
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
20 February 2020
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Antonenko and Others v. Ukraine,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President,
Mārtiņš Mits,
Lәtif Hüseynov, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 30 January 2020,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in applications against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table
2. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the blanket ban on alienation of their agricultural land.
THE LAWJOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 1 of Protocol No. 1
6. The applicants complained that the legislative restrictions applicable to their land had breached their right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions, guaranteed by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, which reads as follows:
Article 1
“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.
The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties.”
7. The Court reiterates that not only must an interference with the right of property be lawful and pursue, on the facts as well as in principle, a “legitimate aim” in the “general interest”, but there must also be a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim sought to be realised by any measures applied by the State, including measures designed to control the use of the individual’s property. That requirement is expressed by the notion of a “fair balance” that must be struck between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual’s fundamental rights (see Hutten-Czapska v. Poland [GC], no. 35014/97, § 167, ECHR 2006‑VIII).
8. In the leading case of Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine (nos. 846/16 and 1075/16, 22 May 2018), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case. The Court observed that Ukraine was the only Council of Europe member State with a general ban on sale or any other form of alienation of agricultural land. Given the lack of consistent reasons given for not adopting alternative solutions and the excessive burden imposed on the applicants, the Court concluded that the respondent State had overstepped its wide margin of appreciation in this area and had not struck a fair balance between the general interest of the community and the property rights of the applicants.
9. In the present applications, having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the State failed to strike a fair balance between the general interest of the community and the property rights of the applicants.
10. These applications are therefore admissible and there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
11. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”
12. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine, cited above, §§ 150, 154-157 and 161), the Court considers that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,Decides to join the applications;Declares the applications admissible;Holds that there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1;Holds that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 20 February 2020, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv TigerstedtGabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention
(blanket ban on alienation of agricultural land)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Description of plot of land
Document as evidence of ownership of the plot of land
45009/13
05/07/2013
Mykhaylo Oleksandrovych ANTONENKO
31/07/1973
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.55 and 5.28 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
7 August 2012
50570/14
02/07/2014
Nina Sergiyivna MIROSHNYCHENKO
14/09/1955
A plot of agricultural land of 2.3571 hectares in Cherkasy Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
18 November 2008
59347/15
18/11/2015
Eduard Vasylyovych PROKOPCHENKO
19/05/1939
Two plots of agricultural land of 0.22 and 5.47 hectares in Luhansk Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
15 February 2008
59356/15
20/11/2015
Petro Oleksandrovych IVANOV
15/10/1964
A plot of agricultural land of 1.86 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
22 July 2005
59386/15
21/11/2015
Mykola Pavlovych GRYSHCHENKO
01/01/1947
Two plots of agricultural land of 2.0072 and 0.3771 hectares in Kyiv Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
7 September 2007
59500/15
18/11/2015
Tetyana Ivanivna ZUYEVA
26/04/1957
A plot of agricultural land of 3.2 hectares in Donetsk Region
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 13 January 2014
59534/15
17/11/2015
Volodymyr Yakovlevych LYSKO
19/04/1975
A plot of agricultural land of 7.52 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
14 August 2006
59698/15
18/11/2015
Viktoriya Vasylivna ANNOPOLSKA
11/10/1970
A plot of agricultural land of 13.2843 hectares in Kharkiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
19 June 2008
60004/15
20/11/2015
Petro Oleksandrovych IVANOV
15/10/1964
A plot of agricultural land of 2.21 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Certificate of Inheritance Rights of 16 June 2009
60269/15
23/11/2015
Olena Ivanivna YANYEVA
18/04/1959
A plot of agricultural land of 4.4487 hectares in Odesa Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
7 September 2010
60480/15
25/11/2015
Stepan Yakovych YANYEV
24/11/1958
A plot of agricultural land of 4.4655 hectares in Odesa Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
24 October 2011
60820/15
26/11/2015
Valeriy Volodymyrovych STADNIK
03/04/1953
Two plots of agricultural land of 3.36 and 3.48 hectares in Khmelnytsky Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
5 June 2003 and 30 December 2003
60840/15
24/11/2015
Stepan Ivanovych NIKOLAYENKO
09/01/1952
Two plots of agricultural land of 2.7285 and 3.0777 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
19 September 2011
60853/15
25/11/2015
Mariya Vasylivna KOLESNYK
31/10/1938
A plot of agricultural land of 2.95 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
13 September 2006
60857/15
16/11/2015
Volodymyr Petrovych IVANOV
28/12/1960
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.68 and 0.3449 hectares in Kyiv Region
Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 10 April 2015
61364/15
01/12/2015
Pavlo Dmytrovych STELMASHCHUK
26/04/1975
A plot of agricultural land of 0.463 hectares in Khmelnytsky Region
Immovable Property Ownership Certificate of
24 November 2015
61847/15
29/11/2015
Sergiy Mykolayovych YAROVYY
07/08/1962
A plot of agricultural land of 16.73 hectares in Kherson Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
20 October 2004
62432/15
08/12/2015
Andriy Tymofiyovych PAVLOV
08/09/1985
A plot of agricultural land of 4.84 hectares in Odesa Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
29 November 2004
62460/15
04/12/2015
Tetyana Volodymyrivna KUCHERENKO
07/02/1973
A plot of agricultural land of 4.9295 hectares in Odesa Region
Immovable Property Ownership Certificate of
30 November 2015
62476/15
03/12/2015
Natalya Mykolayivna POLYAKOVA
02/12/1954
A plot of agricultural land of 9.2586 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
20 August 2010
62665/15
08/12/2015
Nikolay Ivanovich DROBOT
29/05/1960
Two plots of agricultural land of 2.46 and 2.46 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
12 October 2010 and 11 October 2012
534/16
14/12/2015
Alisa Mykolayivna SHVETS
28/04/1986
A plot of agricultural land of 7.4457 hectares in Kirovohrad Region
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 4 December 2013
535/16
14/12/2015
Alisa Mykolayivna SHVETS
28/04/1986
A plot of agricultural land of 7.2318 hectares in Kirovohrad Region
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 10 September 2014
924/16
11/12/2015
Tetyana Mykhaylivna BURDEYNA
03/07/1969
A plot of agricultural land of 5.98 hectares in Odesa Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
30 March 2005
978/16
10/12/2015
Nina Mykolayivna SELEZNYOVA
26/08/1953
A plot of agricultural land of 7.04 hectares in Chernihiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
26 March 2003
1979/16
18/12/2015
Sofiya Oleksandrivna KAZMERCHUK
30/11/1937
A plot of agricultural land of 6.41 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
1 April 2003
1988/16
18/12/2015
Anatoliy Dmytrovych KAZMERCHUK
30/07/1935
A plot of agricultural land of 6.19 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
1 April 2003
2177/16
25/12/2015
Nadiya Semenivna YAKOVLYEVA
08/05/1958
A plot of agricultural land of 3.11 hectares in Kherson Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
24 February 2004
7518/16
30/01/2016
Iuliyana Ivanivna PUCHKOVA
04/07/1957
A plot of agricultural land of 6.7586 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region
Land Ownership Certificate of 8 July 2006
7843/16
20/01/2016
Oleksandr Mykolayovych POLUSHKIN
25/05/1957
A plot of agricultural land of 4.12 hectares in Poltava Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
4 December 2003
8534/16
05/02/2016
Lyudmyla Onysiyivna KRUTS
29/05/1960
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.1277 and 1.1501 hectares in Odesa Region
Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 9 December 2015
8628/16
20/01/2016
Olena Volodymyrivna POLUSHKINA
17/09/1968
A plot of agricultural land of 4.12 hectares in Poltava Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
4 December 2003
10799/16
27/01/2016
Borys Oleksiyovych KIMNATNYY
08/07/1953
A plot of agricultural land of 5.767 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
8 August 2000
11628/16
14/02/2016
Tetyyana Gennadiyivna YAROVA
15/08/1966
A plot of agricultural land of 16.94 hectares in Kherson Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
20 October 2004
12768/16
24/02/2016
Oleg Viktorovych KATSARSKYY
15/06/1982
A plot of agricultural land of 2 hectares in Odesa Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
27 October 2003
14997/16
25/02/2016
Volodymyr Oleksiyovych GORENKO
03/07/1941
A plot of agricultural land of 1.2743 hectares in Kirovohrad Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
2 December 2008
15407/16
09/03/2016
Illya Mykolayovych SHVAB
01/09/1937
A plot of agricultural land of 2.4691 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
18 October 2002
16892/16
10/03/2016
Viktor Vasylyovych PEROV
26/06/1949
A plot of agricultural land of 5.586 hectares in Luhansk Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
28 September 2004
19197/16
19/03/2016
Lyudmyla Ivanivna RYKOVA
20/06/1955
Two plots of agricultural land of 4.07 and 4.07 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
6 January 2005
27154/16
25/04/2016
Nataliya Volodymyrivna LOGVINOVA
02/12/1961
A plot of agricultural land of 3.84 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
31 August 2004
27365/16
25/04/2016
Galyna Mykhaylivna BOLDYREVA
30/03/1970
Two plots of agricultural land of 6.85 and 2.78 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificates of
1 November 2007
35452/16
08/06/2016
Lyudmyla Oleksiyivna KOZYRYEVA
15/06/1946
A plot of agricultural land of 1.2697 hectares in Kirovohrad Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
18 August 2009
36306/16
16/06/2016
Oleksandr Mykolayovych BULYMENKO
13/11/1971
A plot of agricultural land of 10.59 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
10 September 2004
36309/16
16/06/2016
Lyudmyla Volodymyrivna BULYMENKO
19/06/1977
A plot of agricultural land of 10.53 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
7 August 2006
36319/16
16/06/2016
Oleksandra Mykolayivna BULYMENKO
22/01/1937
A plot of agricultural land of 4.53 hectares in Mykolayiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
22 July 2010
44881/16
20/07/2016
Svitlana Volodymyrivna ZHURAVLYOVA
03/08/1981
Two plots of agricultural land of 1.2565 and 1.272 hectares in Odesa Region
Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 13 July 2016
30321/18
16/06/2018
Sergiy Volodymyrovych YUZKIV
26/04/1980
A plot of agricultural land of 1.7026 hectares in Vinnytsya Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
4 October 2012
24/19
27/11/2018
Olga Grygorivna CHEKANOVA
01/09/1959
A plot of agricultural land of 2.64 hectares in Odesa Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
6 August 2001
7056/19
16/01/2019
Sergiy Mykhaylovych YIVZHENKO
17/04/1972
A plot of agricultural land of 4.09 hectares in Poltava Region
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 19 October 2013
11071/19
15/02/2019
Anatoliy Mykolayovych MAGDA
24/06/1959
A plot of agricultural land of 3.9146 hectares in Kharkiv Region
Land Ownership Certificate of 1
6 November 2012
11073/19
15/02/2019
Alyona Anatoliyivna MAGDA
03/12/1988
A plot of agricultural land of 1.86 hectares in Kharkiv Region
Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 29 June 2017
13714/19
03/03/2019
Mariya Ivanivna NEZNAYKO
24/01/1921
A plot of agricultural land of 1.32 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
25 October 2002
14033/19
01/03/2019
Tamara Ivanivna VOYNALOVYCH
02/04/1942
A plot of agricultural land of 1.41 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
25 October 2002
14036/19
01/03/2019
Oleksiy Oleksandrovych VOYNALOVYCH
03/05/1939
A plot of agricultural land of 2.6 hectares in Zhytomyr Region
Land Ownership Certificate of
25 October 2002
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