NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva
has shown that these subjects, often being legal persons in the formof a big corporation, receive much higher awards than those given to individuals in a comparable situation. The highest amounts of these compensations will be highlighted further. 3.3 Millions and billions 1474 3.3.1 The highest amounts of just satisfaction awarded to Article 34 NGOs This current, short section will appraise the cases concerning Article 34 NGOs, when they were awarded a sum of just satisfaction exceeding a million euros. The author will name the top ten cases in this respect. The case of Immobiliare Cerro S.A.S. v. Italy 1475 holds the tenth place in the list of leaders. The applicant company in the case owned a piece of land measuring more than 24,000 square metres in area in Cerro Maggiore. That land was occupied by the administrative authorities with a view to its expropriation. The Court in its judgment regarding merits held that the occupation of the company’s land had infringed its right to the peaceful enjoyment of possessions guaranteed by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. 1476 The judgment concerning just satisfaction award in this case was given six years later, when the Court ruled that Italy should pay to the applicant company EUR 2,452 000 EUR (pecuniary damage), EUR 15,000 (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 20,000 (costs and expenses). With a minimum gain, the case of Oferta Plus S.R.L. v. Moldova 1477 is on the ninth position. The case related to a violation of the applicant company’s right to a fair hearing and to the peaceful enjoyment of its possessions due to the three-year failure to enforce a final judgment given in its favour. Moreover, the domestic courts unjustifiably extended the time limit for lodging an appeal by the opposite party. The Court ruled on the breaches of Article 6 § 1 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. It obliged the respondent state to pay the applicant company more than two million five hundred thousand euros . The eighth place in the list belongs to the East/West Alliance Ltd., an Irish company based in Dublin with a representative office in Ukraine, 1478 which lodged a complaint against Ukraine. The Court found violations of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention and Article 13 of the Convention due to the fact that the seizure and sale of commercial airplanes owned by the company was not in compliance with the law. The respondent state was obliged to pay the applicant company, within three months of the date on which the judgment became final, EUR 5,000,000 (five million 1474 The information in this part of the book was partially reproduced in the following article of the author: TYMOFEYEVA, Alla. The Highest Amounts of Just Satisfaction: Awards of the European Court of Human Rights to Legal Persons. Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law , Vol. 6. Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2015, pages 23-37. 1475 Immobiliare Cerro S.A.S. (just satisfaction), cited above. 1476 Immobiliare Cerro S.A.S. v. Italy, no. 35638/03, § 89, 23 February 2006 . 1477 Oferta Plus S.R.L. (just satisfaction), cited above. 1478 East West Alliance Limited, cited above, § 1.
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