Owners compensated for land seizure

Date: 16/11/1995

By Rory Watson

ALMOST 30 years after their property was seized by Greece's military junta, 14 investors have been awarded compensation by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.

In addition to the financial settlement, the Greek government has been ordered to return the land within six months.

The dispute began in 1967 when the Greek navy seized over 100,000 square metres of property. Since then, the land and the surrounding area, whose location offered tourism potential, had been developed and included buildings used as a leisure centre for naval officers.

Two years ago, the ECHR ruled that the property had been unlawfully taken from its owners. The judges also pointed to the failure of attempts to remedy the situation, but decided to postpone any decision on compensation until the land had been valued.

In their latest ruling, details of which were issued last week, the Strasbourg court unanimously decided that the Greek government would have to pay the former owners 17.9 million ecu if the property was not returned to them within six months.

It was also ordered to pay them 20,336 ecu for non-pecuniary damage and some 210,000 ecu for costs and expenses under the provision for 'just satisfaction' in Article 50 of the European Convention on Human Rights .

The judges rejected the Greek government's claim that the experts involved - chosen by the two parties to the case - had exceeded their brief by valuing the buildings and other facilities on the land. The Court considered the premises as part of the pecuniary damage suffered by the applicants and pointed out that the latter had plans, which they had already begun to implement, for developing their properties.

The Court also ruled that the former owners were due non-pecuniary damage due to the “feeling of helplessness and frustration in the face, firstly of the Navy's and successive governments' refusal to comply with the decisions of the Greek judicial and administrative authorities, and secondly, of the failure of the attempt to recover land of equal value in exchange”.

In a separate ruling, the ECHR rejected a complaint by a Dutch citizen Wilhelmus Baegen that his rights to a fair and public hearing set out in Article 6 of the convention had been violated.

Baegen had brought his case after being convicted to 12 months imprisonment for rape in February 1986.

Neither Baegen nor his lawyer requested witnesses be heard at his trial in 1987. Despite repeated reminders by the ECHR registrar, Baegen had failed to respond to recent invitations to take part in the Strasbourg proceedings or to designate a lawyer.

His failure convinced the judges that the case should be struck off the list on the grounds that the applicant did not intend to pursue it (Article 52).