FOURTH SECTION
 
 
 
 
CASE OF VRIONI AND OTHERS v. ALBANIA AND ITALY
 
(Applications nos. 35720/04 and 42832/06)
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGMENT
(merits)
 
 
STRASBOURG
 
(29 September 2009)
 
FINAL
 
29/12/2009
 
This judgment may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Vrioni and Others v. Albania and Italy,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:
 Nicolas Bratza, President,
 Lech Garlicki,
 Giovanni Bonello,
 Ljiljana Mijović,
 David Thór Björgvinsson,
 Ledi Bianku,
 Mihai Poalelungi, judges,
and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 8 September 2009,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in two applications against the Republics of Albania and Italy lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) as follows: application no. 35720/04, Vrioni, on 8 April 1999; application no. 42832/06, Vrioni and Others, on 15 August 2006. 2. The applicants were represented by Ms L. Sula and Ms. E. Qirjako, lawyers practising in Tirana. The Albanian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their then Agent, Ms S. Meneri. 3. The applicants alleged that there had been violations of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention and Article 13 taken in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. 4. On 9 February 2006 and 8 January 2007 the President of the Fourth Section of the Court decided to give notice of application no. 35720/04 and application no. 42832/06 respectively to the Government of Albania. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it was decided to examine the merits of the applications at the same time as their admissibility. 5. The applicants and the Government each filed further written observations (Rule 59 § 1). THE FACTS
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
6. Mr Shahin Vrioni, the applicant in application no. 35720/04, is an Albanian national who was born in 1925 and lives in Albania. Mr Gherardo La Francesca, Mr Dario La Francesca and Mr Oliver Vrioni, the applicants in application no. 42832/06, are Albanian and Italian nationals who were born in 1946, 1950 and 1974 respectively and live in Italy. Mr Shahin Vrioni represented himself and the other applicants in the domestic courts’ proceedings. A. Background to the case
7. In 1950 a plot of land measuring 1,637 sq. m belonging to the applicants’ ancestor, was confiscated by the then Albanian authorities without compensation. 8. On 1 July 1991 the Italian Embassy in Albania purchased two buildings in Tirana bordering on the property confiscated from the applicants’ grandfather. The transaction was concluded through an 
inter-State agreement validated by means of note verbale exchanges between the two governments. The note verbale did not contain any information as to the transfer of title to the surrounding or adjacent plots of land. The relevant property titles were not entered in the Tirana Property Register. 9. The Albanian Government subsequently used the income from the transaction to purchase the premises of the Albanian Embassy in Rome. 10. Under the Property Restitution and Compensation Act (“the Property Act”), the applicants lodged two applications in 1996 and 1999, respectively, with the Tirana Property Restitution and Compensation Commission (Komisioni i Kthimit dhe Kompensimit të Pronave – “the Commission”), claiming title to their deceased grandfather’s property. 11. On 18 March 1996 and 14 December 1999 the Commission recognised the applicants’ title to two plots of land measuring 1,100 sq. m. and 537 sq. m. respectively. The Commission held that it was impossible for the applicants to have the whole original plot of land allocated to them. It decided to restore to the applicants a vacant plot of land (një truall i lirë) measuring 1,456 sq. m., which was situated within the occupied grounds of the Italian Embassy, and ordered the authorities to pay compensation in respect of a plot of land measuring 181 sq. m. Moreover, it ordered that the applicants’ title to the property be entered in the Tirana Property Register. 12. The applicants were also issued with two certificates of property registration by the Registry Office: registration no. 4373, dated 1 June 1996, and registration no. 420, dated 28 December 1999. 13. On an unspecified date in 1996, having regard to the fact that, according to the note verbale of 1991, the Italian Embassy had title to one of the buildings only, but not to the occupied plot of land, the applicants requested the Embassy to return their property which it was occupying without title. 14. On 27 November 1996 the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having regard to the applicants’ property claims to the plot of land adjacent to the Embassy’s buildings, offered mediation to the Italian Embassy with a view to entering into civil agreements with the applicants. 15. On 16 August 1997 the Italian Embassy in Albania, in reply to the applicants’ request for recovery of their property, informed them that their property claims to the plot of land situated within its premises had to be settled with the Albanian authorities. 16. On 1 October 1997, following a request by the applicants, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed them that by virtue of the note verbale exchanges of 1991 the Italian Embassy in Albania had full ownership of the buildings and adjacent land. Moreover, it referred the applicants to the Albanian authorities as competent to determine any claims for compensation that the applicants might submit. B. Judicial proceedings for recovery of property and compensation
17. On 2 May 1997, following a civil action brought by the applicants against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Tirana District Court (“the District Court”) found that the Italian Embassy was occupying the applicants’ property without title and, being unable to take action against a diplomatic mission, ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the applicants’ recovery of their property and also to pay them compensation amounting to 21,607.50 United States dollars. 18. On 27 January 1998 the Tirana Court of Appeal, (“the Court of Appeal”), quashed the District Court’s judgment and remitted the case to a different bench of the District Court for fresh consideration. According to the Court of Appeal, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had represented the Albanian State in the agreement relating to the transfer of the property to the Italian Embassy, could not be the defendant party in the proceedings in so far as the Ministry of Finance was the competent body to represent State interests in domestic proceedings. The applicants appealed against the Court of Appeal’s judgment to the then Court of Cassation. 19. On 17 June 1998 the Court of Cassation quashed the Court of Appeal’s judgment and remitted the case to that court for a fresh examination. 20. On 29 January 1999 the Court of Appeal, re-examining the case, found that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be held liable in this connection and designated the Italian Embassy, which was occupying the applicants’ property without title, as the liable entity in relation to the property. It quashed the District Court’s judgment of 2 May 1997 and remitted the case to the same court for fresh consideration. 21. On 20 June 2000 the District Court dismissed the applicants’ grounds of appeal, finding that the Commission’s decisions of 18 March 1996 and 14 December 1999 had been unlawful, as they were in breach of section 4 of the Property Act. 22. The District Court found that the applicants’ disputed plot of land, even though there were no buildings on it, constituted an integral part of the Italian Embassy’s premises. Thus, the District Court declared null and void the Commission’s decisions and held that the applicants were entitled to receive compensation for the original properties in one of the forms laid down in section 16 of the Property Act. 23. On 31 October 2001 the Court of Appeal quashed the District Court’s judgment and remitted the case to a different bench of the Court of Appeal, in accordance with Article 467/a of the Code of Civil Procedure, as it had noted irregularities in the proceedings in the lower courts. 24. On 29 October 2002 the Court of Appeal, having duly given notice of the hearings to the opposing parties, namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Tirana Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Italian Embassy in Albania, declared null and void the Commission’s decisions of 18 March 1996 and 14 December 1999. It held that all applicants were entitled to receive compensation in lieu of the original property in one of the forms provided for by law in respect of the plot of land measuring 
1,456 sq. m. Consequently, all applicants were to receive compensation in accordance with the Property Act for the totality of the 1,637 sq. m. of land. Moreover, the Court of Appeal found that, in so far as the property was an integral part of the Italian Embassy’s premises, it could not be considered a vacant plot of land within the meaning of section 4 of the Property Act (see paragraph 31 below). 25. On 15 June 2004 the Supreme Court, which had replaced the Court of Cassation after the Albanian Constitution’s entry into force on 28 November 1998, following an appeal by the applicants, upheld the reasoning of the Court of Appeal’s judgment of 29 October 2002. 26. On an unspecified date in 2004 the applicants lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court under Article 131 (f) of the Constitution, arguing that the Tirana Court of Appeal’s judgment of 29 October 2002 and the Supreme Court’s judgment of 15 June 2004 were unconstitutional. 27. The appeal was declared inadmissible by the Constitutional Court on 13 January 2005 by a bench of three judges. It found that the applicants’ constitutional complaint concerned the assessment of evidence, which fell within the jurisdiction of the lower courts, but was outside its own jurisdiction. II. RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC LAW
A. Relevant international law
28. The relevant international provisions have been set out in Treska v. Albania and Italy (dec.), no. 26937/04, ECHR 2006‑... (extracts) and Manoilescu and Dobrescu v. Romania and Russia (dec.), no. 60861/00, 
§§ 38-39, ECHR 2005‑VI. B. Relevant domestic law
1. The Constitution
29. The relevant provisions of the Albanian Constitution read as follows:

Article of the Convention at issue: Article 1
Outcome: violation