Lexploria

FIFTH SECTION

CASE OF ANTONENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE

( Application s no s . 45009/13 and 53 others - see appended list )

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

20 February 2020

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Antonenko and Others v. Ukraine ,

The European Court of Human Rights ( Fifth Section ), sitting as a Committee composed of:

Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President, Mārtiņš Mits, Lәtif Hüseynov, judges, and Liv Tigerstedt , Acting Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having deliberated in private on 30 January 2020 ,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

1 . The case originated in applications against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table

2 . The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.

THE FACTS

3 . The list of applicant s and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.

4 . The applicant s complained of the blanket ban on alienation of their agricultural land .

THE LAW

5 . Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.

6 . The applicants complained that the legislative restrictions applicable to their land had breached their right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions, guaranteed by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, which reads as follows:

Article 1

“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.

The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties.”

7 . The Court reiterates that not only must an interference with the right of property be lawful and pursue, on the facts as well as in principle, a “legitimate aim” in the “general interest”, but there must also be a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim sought to be realised by any measures applied by the State, including measures designed to control the use of the individual ’ s property. That requirement is expressed by the notion of a “fair balance” that must be struck between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual ’ s fundamental rights (see Hutten-Czapska v. Poland [GC], no. 35014/97 , § 167, ECHR 2006 ‑ VIII).

8 . In the leading case of Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine (nos. 846/16 and 1075/16, 22 May 2018), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case. The Court observed that Ukraine was the only Council of Europe member State with a general ban on sale or any other form of alienation of agricultural land. Given the lack of consistent reasons given for not adopting alternative solutions and the excessive burden imposed on the applicants, the Court concluded that the respondent State had overstepped its wide margin of appreciation in this area and had not struck a fair balance between the general interest of the community and the property rights of the applicants.

9 . In the present applications, having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the State failed to strike a fair balance between the general interest of the community and the property rights of the applicants.

10 . These applications are therefore admissible and there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 .

11 . Article 41 of the Convention provides:

“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”

12 . Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case ‑ law (see, in particular, Zelenchuk and Tsytsyura v. Ukraine, cited above, §§ 150, 154-157 and 161), the Court considers that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT , UNANIMOUSLY,

Done in English, and notified in writing on 20 February 2020 , pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Liv Tigerstedt Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer

Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention

( blanket ban on alienation of agricultural land )

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant ’ s name

Date of birth

Description of plot of land

Document as evidence of ownership of the plot of land

45009/13

05/07/2013

Mykhaylo Oleksandrovych ANTONENKO

31/07/1973

Two plots of agricultural land of 1.55 and 5.28 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

7 August 2012

50570/14

02/07/2014

Nina Sergiyivna MIROSHNYCHENKO

14/09/1955

A plot of agricultural land of 2.3571 hectares in Cherkasy Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

18 November 2008

59347/15

18/11/2015

Eduard Vasylyovych PROKOPCHENKO

19/05/1939

Two plots of agricultural land of 0.22 and 5.47 hectares in Luhansk Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

15 February 2008

59356/15

20/11/2015

Petro Oleksandrovych IVANOV

15/10/1964

A plot of agricultural land of 1.86 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

22 July 2005

59386/15

21/11/2015

Mykola Pavlovych GRYSHCHENKO

01/01/1947

Two plots of agricultural land of 2.0072 and 0.3771 hectares in Kyiv Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

7 September 2007

59500/15

18/11/2015

Tetyana Ivanivna ZUYEVA

26/04/1957

A plot of agricultural land of 3.2 hectares in Donetsk Region

Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 13 January 2014

59534/15

17/11/2015

Volodymyr Yakovlevych LYSKO

19/04/1975

A plot of agricultural land of 7.52 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

14 August 2006

59698/15

18/11/2015

Viktoriya Vasylivna ANNOPOLSKA

11/10/1970

A plot of agricultural land of 13.2843 hectares in Kharkiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

19 June 2008

60004/15

20/11/2015

Petro Oleksandrovych IVANOV

15/10/1964

A plot of agricultural land of 2.21 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Certificate of Inheritance Rights of 16 June 2009

60269/15

23/11/2015

Olena Ivanivna YANYEVA

18/04/1959

A plot of agricultural land of 4.4487 hectares in Odesa Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

7 September 2010

60480/15

25/11/2015

Stepan Yakovych YANYEV

24/11/1958

A plot of agricultural land of 4.4655 hectares in Odesa Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

24 October 2011

60820/15

26/11/2015

Valeriy Volodymyrovych STADNIK

03/04/1953

Two plots of agricultural land of 3.36 and 3.48 hectares in Khmelnytsky Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

5 June 2003 and 30 December 2003

60840/15

24/11/2015

Stepan Ivanovych NIKOLAYENKO

09/01/1952

Two plots of agricultural land of 2.7285 and 3.0777 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

19 September 2011

60853/15

25/11/2015

Mariya Vasylivna KOLESNYK

31/10/1938

A plot of agricultural land of 2.95 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

13 September 2006

60857/15

16/11/2015

Volodymyr Petrovych IVANOV

28/12/1960

Two plots of agricultural land of 1.68 and 0.3449 hectares in Kyiv Region

Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 10 April 2015

61364/15

01/12/2015

Pavlo Dmytrovych STELMASHCHUK

26/04/1975

A plot of agricultural land of 0.463 hectares in Khmelnytsky Region

Immovable Property Ownership Certificate of

24 November 2015

61847/15

29/11/2015

Sergiy Mykolayovych YAROVYY

07/08/1962

A plot of agricultural land of 16.73 hectares in Kherson Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

20 October 2004

62432/15

08/12/2015

Andriy Tymofiyovych PAVLOV

08/09/1985

A plot of agricultural land of 4.84 hectares in Odesa Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

29 November 2004

62460/15

04/12/2015

Tetyana Volodymyrivna KUCHERENKO

07/02/1973

A plot of agricultural land of 4.9295 hectares in Odesa Region

Immovable Property Ownership Certificate of

30 November 2015

62476/15

03/12/2015

Natalya Mykolayivna POLYAKOVA

02/12/1954

A plot of agricultural land of 9.2586 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

20 August 2010

62665/15

08/12/2015

Nikolay Ivanovich DROBOT

29/05/1960

Two plots of agricultural land of 2.46 and 2.46 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

12 October 2010 and 11 October 2012

534/16

14/12/2015

Alisa Mykolayivna SHVETS

28/04/1986

A plot of agricultural land of 7.4457 hectares in Kirovohrad Region

Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 4 December 2013

535/16

14/12/2015

Alisa Mykolayivna SHVETS

28/04/1986

A plot of agricultural land of 7.2318 hectares in Kirovohrad Region

Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 10 September 2014

924/16

11/12/2015

Tetyana Mykhaylivna BURDEYNA

03/07/1969

A plot of agricultural land of 5.98 hectares in Odesa Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

30 March 2005

978/16

10/12/2015

Nina Mykolayivna SELEZNYOVA

26/08/1953

A plot of agricultural land of 7.04 hectares in Chernihiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

26 March 2003

1979/16

18/12/2015

Sofiya Oleksandrivna KAZMERCHUK

30/11/1937

A plot of agricultural land of 6.41 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

1 April 2003

1988/16

18/12/2015

Anatoliy Dmytrovych KAZMERCHUK

30/07/1935

A plot of agricultural land of 6.19 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

1 April 2003

2177/16

25/12/2015

Nadiya Semenivna YAKOVLYEVA

08/05/1958

A plot of agricultural land of 3.11 hectares in Kherson Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

24 February 2004

7518/16

30/01/2016

Iuliyana Ivanivna PUCHKOVA

04/07/1957

A plot of agricultural land of 6.7586 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region

Land Ownership Certificate of 8 July 2006

7843/16

20/01/2016

Oleksandr Mykolayovych POLUSHKIN

25/05/1957

A plot of agricultural land of 4.12 hectares in Poltava Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

4 December 2003

8534/16

05/02/2016

Lyudmyla Onysiyivna KRUTS

29/05/1960

Two plots of agricultural land of 1.1277 and 1.1501 hectares in Odesa Region

Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 9 December 2015

8628/16

20/01/2016

Olena Volodymyrivna POLUSHKINA

17/09/1968

A plot of agricultural land of 4.12 hectares in Poltava Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

4 December 2003

10799/16

27/01/2016

Borys Oleksiyovych KIMNATNYY

08/07/1953

A plot of agricultural land of 5.767 hectares in Zaporizhzhya Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

8 August 2000

11628/16

14/02/2016

Tetyyana Gennadiyivna YAROVA

15/08/1966

A plot of agricultural land of 16.94 hectares in Kherson Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

20 October 2004

12768/16

24/02/2016

Oleg Viktorovych KATSARSKYY

15/06/1982

A plot of agricultural land of 2 hectares in Odesa Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

27 October 2003

14997/16

25/02/2016

Volodymyr Oleksiyovych GORENKO

03/07/1941

A plot of agricultural land of 1.2743 hectares in Kirovohrad Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

2 December 2008

15407/16

09/03/2016

Illya Mykolayovych SHVAB

01/09/1937

A plot of agricultural land of 2.4691 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

18 October 2002

16892/16

10/03/2016

Viktor Vasylyovych PEROV

26/06/1949

A plot of agricultural land of 5.586 hectares in Luhansk Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

28 September 2004

19197/16

19/03/2016

Lyudmyla Ivanivna RYKOVA

20/06/1955

Two plots of agricultural land of 4.07 and 4.07 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

6 January 2005

27154/16

25/04/2016

Nataliya Volodymyrivna LOGVINOVA

02/12/1961

A plot of agricultural land of 3.84 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

31 August 2004

27365/16

25/04/2016

Galyna Mykhaylivna BOLDYREVA

30/03/1970

Two plots of agricultural land of 6.85 and 2.78 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificates of

1 November 2007

35452/16

08/06/2016

Lyudmyla Oleksiyivna KOZYRYEVA

15/06/1946

A plot of agricultural land of 1.2697 hectares in Kirovohrad Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

18 August 2009

36306/16

16/06/2016

Oleksandr Mykolayovych BULYMENKO

13/11/1971

A plot of agricultural land of 10.59 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

10 September 2004

36309/16

16/06/2016

Lyudmyla Volodymyrivna BULYMENKO

19/06/1977

A plot of agricultural land of 10.53 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

7 August 2006

36319/16

16/06/2016

Oleksandra Mykolayivna BULYMENKO

22/01/1937

A plot of agricultural land of 4.53 hectares in Mykolayiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

22 July 2010

44881/16

20/07/2016

Svitlana Volodymyrivna ZHURAVLYOVA

03/08/1981

Two plots of agricultural land of 1.2565 and 1.272 hectares in Odesa Region

Excerpts from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 13 July 2016

30321/18

16/06/2018

Sergiy Volodymyrovych YUZKIV

26/04/1980

A plot of agricultural land of 1.7026 hectares in Vinnytsya Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

4 October 2012

24/19

27/11/2018

Olga Grygorivna CHEKANOVA

01/09/1959

A plot of agricultural land of 2.64 hectares in Odesa Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

6 August 2001

7056/19

16/01/2019

Sergiy Mykhaylovych YIVZHENKO

17/04/1972

A plot of agricultural land of 4.09 hectares in Poltava Region

Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 19 October 2013

11071/19

15/02/2019

Anatoliy Mykolayovych MAGDA

24/06/1959

A plot of agricultural land of 3.9146 hectares in Kharkiv Region

Land Ownership Certificate of 1

6 November 2012

11073/19

15/02/2019

Alyona Anatoliyivna MAGDA

03/12/1988

A plot of agricultural land of 1.86 hectares in Kharkiv Region

Excerpt from the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property of 29 June 2017

13714/19

03/03/2019

Mariya Ivanivna NEZNAYKO

24/01/1921

A plot of agricultural land of 1.32 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

25 October 2002

14033/19

01/03/2019

Tamara Ivanivna VOYNALOVYCH

02/04/1942

A plot of agricultural land of 1.41 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

25 October 2002

14036/19

01/03/2019

Oleksiy Oleksandrovych VOYNALOVYCH

03/05/1939

A plot of agricultural land of 2.6 hectares in Zhytomyr Region

Land Ownership Certificate of

25 October 2002

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CASE OF ANTONENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE

CASE OF ANTONENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE

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