FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 3154/05 by Piotr WALUK against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 23 September 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza , President, Lech Garlicki , Giovanni Bonello , Ljiljana Mijović , David Thór Björgvinsson , Ján Šikuta , Päivi Hirvelä , judges, and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 10 January 2005,

Having regard to the decision to apply the pilot-judgment procedure and to adjourn its consideration of applications deriving from the same systemic problem identified in the case of Broniowski v. Poland (no. 31443/96),

Having regard to the decisions to strike the applications Wolkenberg and Others v. Poland (no. 50003/99) and Witkowska-Toboła v. Poland (no. 11208/02) out of the Court ' s list of cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The app licant, Mr Piotr Waluk, is a Polish national who was born in 1925 and lives in S Å‚ upsk.

A. Historical background to Bug River cases before the Court

(See E.G. v. Poland , no. 50425/99, §§ 2-5) .

B. Particular circumstances of case no. 3154/05

The facts of the case, as submitted by t he applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On 4 July 1989 the SÅ‚upsk District Court ( SÄ…d Rejonowy ) gave a decision declaring that the applicant had acquired his late parents ' estate.

On an unknown date in 2003 the applicant lodged a claim for compensation for the Bug River property against the State Treasury. The applicant sought full compensation for the original property. The court dismissed the applicant ' s claim.

The applicant ' s subsequent attempts to acquire State property were unsuccessful. The only possibility of enforcing the claim was to participate in competitive bids for the sale of State property. However, the State authorities throughout Poland officially acknowledged the acute shortage of State-owned land designated for the realisation of the Bug River claims.

This fact and the fact that at the material time it was the authorities ' common practice to desist from organising auctions for Bug River claimants or to openly deny them the opportunity to enforce their entitlement through the statutory bidding procedure was established by the Court in the Broniowski judgment (see Broniowski , cited above, §§ 48-61, 69-87 and 168-176).

The applicant did not inform the Court whether he had initiated proceedings under the Law on the realisation of the right to compensation for property left beyond the present borders of the Polish State ( Ustawa o realizacji prawa do rekompensaty z tytułu pozostawienia nieruchomości poza obecnymi granicami państwa polskiego ) (“the July 2005 Act”) in order to obtain compensation for the Bug River property.

C . Relevant domestic law and practice in respect of Bug River claims

(See E.G. v. Poland , no. 50425 /99, §§ 16-17 ) .

COMPLAINT

(See E.G. v. Poland , no. 50425 /99, § 18 ) .

THE LAW

(See E.G. v. Poland , no. 50425 /99, §§ 19-29 ) .

For these reasons, the Cour t unanimously

1. Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases;

2. Decides to close the pilot-judgment procedure applied in respect of the Bug River applications in the case of Broniowski v. Poland (no. 31443/96).

Lawrence Early Nicolas Bratza Registrar President