CASE OF BIZGU v. MOLDOVA

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi

Karar Metni

FOURTH SECTION

PARTIAL DECISION

AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF

Application no. 45653/05 by Anatolie BÎZGU

and 35 other applications against Moldova and Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 10 November 2009 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza, President,
Lech Garlicki,
Giovanni Bonello,
Ljiljana Mijović,
David Thór Björgvinsson,
Ján Šikuta,
Ledi Bianku, judges,
and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar,

Having regard to these applications lodged between 15 November 2005 and 3 January 2007,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

A. The circumstances of the cases

The applicants, referred to in the attached table, are all Moldovan nationals. Their applications were lodged between 15 November 2005 and 3 January 2007. All the applicants are represented by Mr Anatolie Bîzgu.

These cases originated in a large number of applications in which the applicants raised complaints that the Moldovan Government had failed to comply with final judgments awarding applicants housing rights or money in lieu of housing.

The facts of these cases, as submitted by the applicants, are set out in the attached table and may be summarised as follows.

The applicants are all internally displaced persons who fled Transdniestria after the 1992 war.

On 21 October 1993 the Government of the Republic of Moldova adopted Decision no. 658 “on housing for persons forced to quit their houses in the eastern region of Moldova”.

On an unspecified date the applicants instituted proceedings against the Government seeking housing.

By final judgments of 25 May 2005, 27 May 2005 and 7 June 2006, the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the Moldovan Government to provide the applicants with apartments.

Thus, all the applicants obtained final judgments in their favour and enforcement warrants were issued; however, the judgments have not been enforced to date.

B. Relevant non-Convention material

The relevant non-Convention material has been set out in Olaru and Others v. Moldova, nos. 476/07, 22539/05, 17911/08 and 13136/07, 28 July 2009.

COMPLAINTS

The applicants complain of a breach of their rights guaranteed by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention as a result of the Moldovan Government’s failure to comply with final judicial decisions delivered by domestic courts in their favour.

THE LAW

1. The Court notes that all the above applications were also lodged against Russia. According to the applicants, they were forced to leave their homes in Transdniestria due to the actions of Russia, which contributed military, economically and politically to the creation and consolidation of the Transdniestrian separatist regime.

The Court notes that the subject matter of the applications concerns the failure of the Moldovan authorities to enforce final judgments of Moldovan courts obliging the Government of Moldova and the Chişinău Municipal Council to provide the applicants with apartments. It follows that in so far as the applications are brought against Russia they are incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

2. In so far as the complaints lodged against Moldova are concerned, the Court considers that it cannot, on the basis of the case files, determine their admissibility and that it is therefore necessary, in accordance with Rule 54 § 2 (b) of the Rules of Court, to give notice of these applications to the Moldovan Government.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Declares inadmissible the complaints lodged by the applicants in so far as they relate to Russia;

Decides to adjourn the examination of the above applications in so far as they relate to Moldova.

Lawrence EarlyNicolas Bratza
RegistrarPresident

ANNEX TABLE

Application number

and date of lodging

Applicant’s details

Final judgment

45653/05, lodged on 15.11.2005

BÎZGU Anatolie born on 26.07.1967, Moldovan national, living in Chişinău