FOURTH SECTION
PARTIAL DECISION
AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF
Application no. 13136/07
by Simion RACU against Moldova and the Russian Federation
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 1 July 2008 as a Chamber composed of:
Lech Garlicki, President,
Giovanni Bonello,
Anatoly Kovler,
Ljiljana Mijović,
David Thór Björgvinsson,
Ján Šikuta,
Mihai Poalelungi, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 3 January 2007,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr Simion Racu, is a Moldovan national who was born in 1951 and lives in Chişinău.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant is an internally displaced person. After the 1992 war he fled Transdniestria and settled in Chişinău.
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 applicant instituted proceedings against the Government and the Chişinău local authorities seeking housing.
By a final judgment of 7 June 2006 the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the Government and the Chişinău Municipal Council to provide the applicant with an apartment.
It appears that the enforcement proceedings were conducted against the Chişinău Municipal Council; however, the judgment had not been enforced to date.
B. Relevant non-Convention material
1. Domestic law and practice
The relevant provisions of Law no. 435 on the Administrative decentralisation read as follows:
“Article 12. Financial decentralisation
(1) The public local authorities enjoy, within the limits of the law, financial autonomy. They shall adopt their own budgets which shall be independent and separate from the budget of the State.
Article 13. The property of the territorial-administrative units
(1) The public local authorities shall have their own distinct patrimony, which shall include movable and immovable goods. They shall dispose freely of it within the conditions provided for by law.
(2) The patrimony of the territorial-administrative units shall be delimitated and separated from that of the State, according to the law.
(3) The delimitation presupposes ... exclusive decisional competence of the territorial-administrative units in respect of the administration of the patrimony...”
Law no. 416 on the Police Forces, in so far as relevant provides as follows:
“Article 35. Housing for police officers
Police officers must be provided with housing by the local administrative authorities after three years of employment...”
The relevant part of Law no. Nr. 544 on the Status of Judges, provides:
“Article 30. Housing for judges
(1) If a judge has no accommodation or if he needs an improvement of his accommodation, or he was not provided with the supplementary 15 square metres, the local administrative authority must be obliged to provide the judge with housing within six months from the moment when the above circumstances appeared ...
(2) After ten years of service the accommodation provided to a judge shall be transmitted into his property.”
Law no. 1225 on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression
“Article 12. Restitution of property to persons who were subjects of repression
Any citizen of the Republic of Moldova, who has been the subject of political repression and subsequently rehabilitated, shall have returned to him, at his request or at the request of his heirs, any property which was confiscated, nationalised or taken away from him in some other way.
...
The persons who have to be evicted from the restituted houses, shall be provided with accommodation by the local administration authorities ... at the moment of eviction, in accordance with the legislation in force.”
The relevant provisions of the Government's decision no. 658 concerning Housing for Citizens Forced to leave their Houses in the Eastern Region of the Republic of Moldova, read as follows:
1. The families of citizens forced to leave their houses in the eastern region of Moldova [Transdniestria] as a result of the military actions for the safeguarding of the independence and integrity of Moldova or as a result of their political activity directed against separatism... shall be provided with housing in accordance with the housing legislation in force.
The relevant parts of the Prosecuting Authorities Act no. 118 read as follows:
“Article 38. Housing
(1) If a prosecutor has no accommodation or if he needs an improvement of his accommodation, the local administrative authority shall be obliged to provide him or her with housing within one year from the moment of his or her appointment ...”
According to Section 9 (3) of the Law on the Social Protection of the Military, the military personnel are entitled to free housing provided by the Ministry of Defence. However, it appears from a judgment of the Centru District Court of 3 March 2004 in the case of Olisevschi v. the Chişinău Municipal Council that it was the Chişinău local authorities that were obliged to provide the plaintiff with a two-roomed apartment.
2. Materials of the Council of Europe
The European Charter of Local Self-Government reads in so far as relevant:
“Article 9 – Financial resources of local authorities
Local authorities shall be entitled, within national economic policy, to adequate financial resources of their own, of which they may dispose freely within the framework of their powers.
Local authorities' financial resources shall be commensurate with the responsibilities provided for by the constitution and the law.”
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 6 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about the failure of the domestic authorities to enforce the final judgment in his favour.
THE LAW
1. The Court notes that the application was also lodged against the Russian Federation. According to the applicant, he was forced to leave his home in Transdniestria due to the actions of the Russian Federation, 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 application concerns the failure of the Moldovan authorities to enforce a final judgment of a Moldovan court obliging the Government and the Municipal Council to provide the applicant with an apartment. It follows that in so far as the application is brought against the Russian Federation it is 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 part of the application lodged against Moldova is concerned, the Court considers that it cannot, on the basis of the case file, determine its admissibility and that it is therefore necessary, in accordance with Rule 54 § 2 (b) of the Rules of Court, to give notice of the application to the respondent Government.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Declares inadmissible the application in so far as it relates to the Russian Federation; and
Decides to adjourn the examination of the above application in so far as it relates to Moldova.
Fatoş AracıLech Garlicki
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy