The absolute ban in Ukraine on the purchase and sale of agricultural land violates the European Convention on Human Rights, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The corresponding decision was made by the European Court of Human Rights in the case “Zelenchuk and Tsitsyura v. Ukraine,” according to the court’s website.
The case concerned a complaint by two citizens of Ukraine regarding a state ban on the sale of agricultural land, which they claimed violated their property rights as owners of such plots.
The court noted that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine primarily distributed agricultural land to people who had previously worked on collective farms, but introduced a supposedly temporary ban on the sale of such land.
“The government argued that this move would prevent the concentration of land in the hands of a few people, stop the impoverishment of rural residents and ensure that the land would continue to be cultivated. However, the court found that the state did not strike a fair balance between the general interests of society and the property rights of the applicants,” the report said.
The Court noted that no other member country of the Council of Europe had introduced such a ban, and stressed the inconsistency of Ukraine's approach to ending the moratorium.
“It is also unclear why less stringent restrictive measures would be less effective in achieving the same goals,” the decision notes.
The court ruled that the Ukrainian government must take legislative action to ensure the necessary fairness of balance for agricultural land owners, although this does not mean that Ukraine should immediately introduce an unrestricted market for agricultural land.
No monetary compensation was awarded to the applicants. “However, if the state shows unreasonable delay in taking the necessary measures, monetary payments may become guaranteed,” the court noted.