FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 39654/98
by the NATIONAL FOREST OF TATOI FOUNDATION
against Greece
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 19 February 2004 as a Chamber composed of:
MrP. Lorenzen, President,
MrC.L. Rozakis,
MrG. Bonello,
MrsF. Tulkens,
MrsN. Vajić,
MrsE. Steiner,
MrK. Hajiyev, judges,
and Mr S. Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 8 December 1997,
Having regard to Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11 to the Convention, by which the competence to examine the application was transferred to the Court,
Having regard to the applicant’s letter dated 2 December 2003,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, the National Forest of Tatoi Foundation, is a non-profit making foundation which was established in 1992. It was represented before the Court by Messrs. Nathene & Co., Solicitors in London. The respondent Government were represented by the delegates of their Agent, Mr M. Apessos, Senior Adviser at the State Legal Council and Mr I. Bakopoulos, Legal Assistant at the State Legal Council.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant was established in 1992, when the former King Constantinos of Greece donated an area of 37,426,000 square metres of forest land at Tatoi, near Athens, to the Foundation. The applicant was a non-profit making foundation for the benefit of the public, whose objects were, inter alia, to preserve and promote the forest of Tatoi and to protect its flora and fauna, to organise educational units for ecological and environmental matters, forestation and forest protection, and to inform the public of the necessity to safeguard the forest wealth of Greece.
The applicant’s complaints arose out of Law no. 2215/1994 which was passed by the Greek State on 16 April 1994 and came into force on 11 May 1994. By virtue of Article 1 of this Law, the Greek State confiscated the property which was donated to the applicant. On 25 June 1997 the Supreme Special Court held that Law no. 2215/1994 was constitutional, which rendered ineffective any further attempt of the applicant to seek judicial protection of its property rights.
COMPLAINTS
1. The applicant complained that Law no. 2215/1994 deprived it of all its property without any compensation, and thereby deprived it of the reason for its existence, in breach of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, read on its own and in connection with Article 14 of the Convention.
2. The applicant further complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that the Supreme Special Court was lacking independence and impartiality.
THE LAW
The application was communicated to the respondent Government on 7 September 1998. On 28 March 2000 the Court decided to stay proceedings until the completion of the examination of application no. 25701/94, which was brought by the former King of Greece and members of his family. In fact, in both cases the applicants’ complaints arose out of Law no. 2215/1994. Furthermore, the former King was the donor of the Foundation’s property.
By letter dated 2 December 2003 the applicant’s representatives informed the Court that the applicant wished to withdraw its application in view of the Court’s findings in the above case (see The Former King of Greece and others v. Greece [GC], no. 25701/94, §§ 71-72, ECHR 2000-XII; The Former King of Greece and others v. Greece (just satisfaction) [GC], no. 25701/94, § 81, 28 November 2002).
In the circumstances, the Court concludes that the applicant does not intend to pursue its application. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the examination of the application to be continued.
Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Søren NielsenPeer Lorenzen
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy