Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

The applicant organisation is the Church of Greece. The Church manages the Asomaton Petraki Holy Monastery, which had owned three tracts of land totalling 31.9 hectares in the prefecture of Athens. In 1980 the State agreed a contract with the Church to transfer parts of the 31.9 hectares to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for it to build a university hospital within ten years. The hospital was not built, so in 2013 the Church asked the Minister of Finance for the Monastery to be declared the owner of the 31.9 hectares again. The case concerns the legal proceedings which followed in that connection.

Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the European Convention, the applicant organization complains, in particular, of the rejection of its civil suit and the consequences of the non-examination of its case.

• Violation of Article 6 § 1

Just satisfaction

• Non-pecuniary damage € 6,000,–

Press release ECHR 021 (2025) 21.01.2025