Avenue de l'Europe
Azas v. Greece 
| 2002
An interference with the right to respect for property must strike a “fair balance” between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual’s fundamental rights.
Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, 19 September 2002
Two families owned some land in Thessaloniki. The government took away part of the land, in order to build a new avenue in the town. However, the authorities refused to give the families compensation in line with the value of the land that they had lost.
The Strasbourg court ruled that the two families had been forced to give up land, but they were only paid a fraction of the loss that they sustained – without any proper explanation. The court awarded them compensation.
This case was one example of a wider problem. The procedure for valuing expropriated property was not able to establish the true loss experienced by the owner.
The Greek Court of Cassation changed its case-law. It said that courts deciding on compensation for expropriated land should perform an overall assessment of the consequences. This helped the courts to award appropriate compensation.
The Council of Europe continues to monitor a number of issues related to expropriation of property in Greece.
Anatoliy Burdov was exposed to radiation whilst working on the emergency response to the Chernobyl disaster. He was entitled to certain social benefits, but the authorities refused to pay - even when ordered to do so by Russian courts. The European court said that this violated Mr Burdov’s rights. As a result, reforms were introduced to improve the enforcement of judgments.
When Karol Rummi’s husband died, his valuable possessions were arbitrarily confiscated by the police. When Mrs Rummi tried to get them back, she was not allowed to make her case in court and told that the property now belonged to the state. The European court ruled that her right to property had been breached. She was compensated and the law was changed to prevent similar problems happening again.
After the fall of communism in Romania, laws were passed giving people the right to claim back property nationalised by the old regime. Tens of thousands of people made such claims, but a huge number faced delays and failures to deal with their applications. The European court ruled that the system must be reformed – leading to a new law which made the restitution system more effective.
Greece
Russian Federation*
Estonia
Romania