281 / 464
267
THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS OF JUST SATISFACTION…
3. Analysis of the awards
As we see in all the top judgments, the Court declared a violation of the right
to property under A 1 P-1. The second most frequent type of violation concerns
the fair trial guarantees as envisaged by Article 6 of the Convention. It is possible to
conclude that such huge amounts of award were based on the initial capital of the
companies in question. The higher the amount of property deprived, the higher is
the sum awarded by the Court.
From the table it is also clear that the majority of judgments are given in cases
against so called ‘new member states’, who became party to the Convention in the
1990s, namely Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. Although, before ratification of this
treaty by the mentioned states, namely, in 1987, the highest amount of compensation
was claimed by a Greek company. It is also true that, except for the
Stran Greek Refineries
,
most of the judgments were issued in the last seven years. Moreover, in this judicial
decision the just satisfaction was awarded to an individual and the legal persons
together. Consequently, it is not clear what amount was paid to the latter.
Not all of the applicants were domestic companies. For example, in the case of
East West Alliance against Ukraine
,
50
an Irish company lodged the application with
the Court. Similarly, in
Unistar Ventures GmbH
case
,
51
as can be seen from the title,
a German company filed the submission. In the case of
Uniya OOO and Belcourt
Trading Company v. Russia,
52
there were two applicant companies. The first was
Uniya OOO, registered in Alsheyvskiy District, Bashkortostan, under Russian law,
and the second was a foreign company, Belcourt Trading Company. It was originally
registered in the Republic of Ireland and then in the state of Delaware, USA, and
subsequently in Belize City, Belize. The final award concerned only the second
company, as the first one had ceased to exist. Based on this observation, we may speak
of a so-called protection of foreign investors by means of the Convention system.
This is also true for the
Yukos
case,
53
where many natural persons from abroad were
among the shareholders of the company who received the just satisfaction award.
In respect of the interrelationship between claims and just satisfaction awards,
it may be seen from the table that the awarded amount constitutes from 0.5% to
95% of the claimed compensation. The data are imprecise, as in respect of some
awards it was very difficult, or even impossible, to make the necessary calculation.
For example, in the already mentioned case of
Stran Greek Refineries
,
54
the award was
set forth in a number of different currencies and to convert all of them into euros
is impossible, because the award was made in 1997, when the euro did not exist in
50
East West Alliance Limited,
cited above.
51
Unistar Ventures GmbH,
cited above.
52
Uniya OOO and Belcourt Trading Company,
cited above.
53
OAO Neftyanaya Kompaniya Yukos
(just satisfaction)
,
cited above.
54
Stran Greek Refineries,
cited above.