Greece Ordered To Pay 4.2 million Euros For Property Rights Infringements

In 2 December Chamber judgments in the cases of Anonymos Touristiki Etairia Xenodocheia Kritis v. Greece (application no. 35332/05) and Theodoraki and Others v. Greece (no. 9368/06), which are not final, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously awarded a total of 4,220,000 euros (EUR) for pecuniary damage, plus sums for costs and expenses.

Claimants Win €145,000 In Human Rights Dispute Against Greece

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ECHR Case: Antonopoulou and Others v. Greece (no. 49000/06)

The applicants, Vagia Antonopoulou, Dimitrios Chrysafis, Emmanouil Mantousis and Nikiforos Mantousis, are Greek nationals. They own land along the main highway between Thessaloniki and Nea Moudania (Greece).

In a judgment of 16 April 2009 the Court found that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing) and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property).

It took the view that the rejection of a ground of appeal on points of law, of which the applicants had complained, constituted an over-formalistic approach to the admissibility conditions for the appeal and that, consequently, the restriction on the applicants’ right of access to a court had not been proportionate to the aim of guaranteeing legal certainty or due process.

In addition, the Court held that in refusing to award the applicants compensation for the non-expropriated parts of their land that had been devalued as a result of the widening of the highway, the domestic courts had failed to strike a fair balance between the protection of individual rights and the demands of the general interest. It reserved its decision on the application of Article 41 (just satisfaction).

In its judgment, the Court awarded the applicants EUR 145,000, jointly for pecuniary damage.