The Republic of Cyprus violated the right to property of 10 Cypriot nationals in relation to land expropriated in 1976 in the area of Agios Athanasios in Limassol, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled.
In a statement on Thursday regarding the appeal of Nikolaou and Others v. Cyprus, the Court notes that the case concerns "the refusal of the authorities" to return to the original owners or their heirs land that had been expropriated, but allegedly remained unused.
The applicants are 10 Cypriot nationals who previously owned (or whose ancestors owned) a plot of 7,024 square meters in the area of Agios Athanasios in Limassol, which was expropriated in 1976 by the authorities for the development of an industrial area. It is noted that part of the expropriated property was used for the development of roads and that in the following years, negotiations were held for various construction projects for the remaining 3,974 square meters, "which were never implemented".
In 2008, the applicants requested the return of the disputed land, as, according to the relevant law, they were entitled to restitution if the expropriated land had not been used as intended, but their request was denied, the announcement said.
According to the announcement, the Cypriot authorities informed them that the land was intended to remain "open space", while at the same time accepting that the construction plans in the industrial area had not yet been abandoned.
Based on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicants claimed that 32 years had passed without the expropriated land being used as intended and that the authorities were therefore obliged to return the property to them.
The Court ruled in favour of the applicants on the violation of Article 1 on the right to property, while, on the question of the application of Article 41 (equitable satisfaction) it was not ready for a decision on the pecuniary damage and reserved it for consideration at a later date.
The Court further held that the State should jointly pay the applicants €12,000 for non-pecuniary damage and €5,000 for court costs and expenses.
