Published on 6 February 2023

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 9252/19 Lyuben Nikolov TOSHKOV and Others against Bulgaria lodged on 23 January 2019 communicated on 16 January 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns restitution under the Agricultural Land Act (“the ALA”). The applicants claimed 9,900 square metres of land in proximity to Sofia, previously owned by a predecessor of theirs. The land was not subject to restitution in kind, since it had been constructed upon after its collectivisation, and in decisions taken in 1993, 1995 and 2000 the competent local body acknowledged the applicants’ entitlement to compensation in lieu of restitution. However, the applicants had not received any compensation by the time of their latest communication to the Court in November 2022. The competent bodies explained to them that the collection and assessment of data concerning people entitled to compensation under the ALA on the territory of the Sofia Municipality, as well as the identification of available State- and municipally-owned land to be provided in such compensation, were under way.

The applicants complain under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the excessive duration of the restitution procedure, and under Article 13 of the Convention of the unavailability of effective domestic remedies in that regard.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Was the duration of the restitution procedure in the applicants’ case excessive, and did this amount to a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (see, among others, Lyubomir Popov v. Bulgaria , no. 69855/01, 7 January 2010; Vasilev and Doycheva v. Bulgaria , no. 14966/04, 31 May 2012; Zikatanova and Others v. Bulgaria , no. 45806/11, 12 December 2019)?

2. Did the applicants have at their disposal an effective domestic remedy for their complaint under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, as required by Article 13 of the Convention?

APPENDIX

List of applicants:

No.

Applicant’s Name

Year of birth

Nationality

Place of residence

1.Lyuben Nikolov TOSHKOV

1950Bulgarian

Sofia

2.Nikolay Dimitrov TOSHKOV

1971Bulgarian

Elin Pelin

3.Afrodita Hristos TOSHKOVA

1952Bulgarian

Elin Pelin

4.Hristina Dimitrova TOSHKOVA

1977Bulgarian

Sofia