DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE Vajić

I am unable to find that there has been a violation of the applicants ' property rights under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention in the present case.

According to national law a criminal court in Russia has the power to confiscate criminally acquired property ; the finding as to its criminal origin is of a factual nature . In the present case that question was examined in the criminal proceedings , which determined the matter (see paragraphs 14-16 of the judgment) and simply precluded any further claims . In this regard, Resolution no. 7 of the Plenary Supreme Court of the USSR states as follows : “ However, if the criminal judgment established that the listed property items had been criminally acquired or paid for with criminally acquired assets , but registered in other persons ' names with a view to concealing them from confiscation ... then the claim for lifting of the charging order shall be dismissed ” ( see paragraph 37 of the judgment). (e mphasis added )

As in most countries, Russian c ivil l aw basically denies any legal protection to criminally acquired property.

It follows that in the given circumstances the applicants could not and had not become the owners of the property in question and thus could not claim their share of the property , as their claim had no basis in domestic law (contrary to the assertion in paragraph 52 of the judgment). This was also stated by the national courts ( see paragraphs 27-28 and 30 of the judgment ) . Therefore, in view of the Court ' s case-law , the applicants – contrary to the majority ' s view (see paragraphs 51-54 of the judgment) – did not have a sufficiently established claim to qualify as an asset protected by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.

For the above - mentioned reasons it is my opinion that the applicants did not have a right or a legitimate expectation that was protected by the Convention and I do not agree with the majority that there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.

[1] . According to the heading of the document. The State Security Committee (“KGB”) is the predecessor of the Federal Security Service.