ECHR judgment of July 17, 2018 in the case of Sandu and Others v. Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation (applications NN 21034/05, 41569/04, 41573/04, 41574/04, 7105/06, 9713 / 06, 18327/06 and 38649/06).
The case has successfully examined the complaints of the applicants that they do not have access to their land plots in the territory of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublika. They also complained that they had to pay various fees and rent for their land plots and the lack of effective remedies in this regard. The case has violated the requirements of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (protection of property) in conjunction with Article 13 of the Convention (the right to an effective remedy).
In 2004, 2005 and 2006, complainants were assisted in preparing applications. Subsequently, the complaints were merged and communicated to the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation.
In their complaints, the applicants (1,646 farmers from the Republic of Moldova and three companies) complained that they did not have access to their land plots in the territory of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. They also complained that they had to pay various fees and rent for their land plots and the lack of effective remedies in this regard.
On July 17, 2018, the European Court unanimously ruled on applications filed by the applicants that in this case the authorities of the Republic of Moldova did not violate any provisions of the Convention. The European Court also ruled that the Russian authorities violated the requirements of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention (protection of property) in conjunction with Article 13 of the Convention (the right to an effective remedy), and ordered the respondent state to pay each individual applicant 1,500 euros compensation for non-pecuniary damage, with the exception of three applicants who have withdrawn their complaints. Three companies were awarded 115,300 euros, 80,500 euros and 50,000 euros, respectively. A special dissenting opinion on this case was expressed by the judge of the European Court of Human Rights D. Dedov (elected from the Russian Federation).