Published on 9 May 2023
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 47858/17
Pranvera DUHANXHIU
against Albania
lodged on 29 June 2017
communicated on 20 April 2023
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns review of a final judgment concerning the applicant’s property rights. The case raises issues under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the principle of legal certainty.
In 1996 the Commission for Restitution and Compensation of Property recognized the applicant’s right of first refusal on a share of 21.6 m² of a building occupied at the time by a public library. By a judgment in civil proceedings in 2005 the applicant’s share was increased to 48 m². The Commission took part in these proceedings as the defendant. The judgment became final in 2005, no appeal having been lodged against it.
In 2007 a third party, a former employee that was using the library for her commercial activity, brought a civil action requesting review of the Commission’s decision, and the annulment of the applicant’s right of first refusal. The defendants in these proceedings were the Commission and the applicant. By a court’s decision in 2007 the applicant’s right of first refusal over the 48m2 of the library was annulled.
That decision was upheld by the Appeal and the Supreme Court. In 2013 the Constitutional Court quashed the Supreme Court’s judgement on the ground that it had failed to address the issues of legal certainty and res judicata. In 2016 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicant’s cassation appeal. Her constitutional complaint was also dismissed in 2017.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of the principles of legal certainty and respect for the res judicata effect of final judgments under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, given that the applicant’s right of first refusal, confirmed by a court in 2005, was annulled in the set of proceedings terminated in 2016 (see, among others, Kehaya and Others v. Bulgaria, nos. 47797/99 and 68698/01, §§ 58-70, 12 January 2006, and Chengelyan and Others v. Bulgaria, no. 47405/07, §§ 31-38, 21 April 2016)?