CEDH · CASELAW;COMMUNICATEDCASES;ENG — 23 septembre 2025

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s379BC09C { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s5E1364CA { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt } .s339D85E6 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s665E407E { margin-top:66pt; margin-bottom:14pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s10950C61 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt; text-align:justify } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s943D4F93 { margin-top:14pt; margin-left:14.2pt; margin-bottom:3pt; text-indent:21.8pt; text-align:justify } .s779CD28D { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt } .s75A32C27 { border-collapse:collapse } .s3695F815 { border:0.75pt solid #949494; padding:1.02pt 5.03pt; vertical-align:top; background-color:#dfdfdf } .sF9C0A319 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .sEECE831 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; color:#474747 } .sE8934522 { border:0.75pt solid #949494; padding:1.02pt 5.03pt; vertical-align:top } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } Published on 13 October 2025   THIRD SECTION Applications nos. 25173/23 and 28055/23 Dimitar Slavchev DIMITROV against Bulgaria and Slavcho Dimitrov SPASOV against Bulgaria lodged on 15 June 2023 and 15 June 2023 respectively communicated on 23 September 2025 SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE The applications concern complaints of the type examined in Kostov and Others v. Bulgaria (nos. 66581/12 and 25054/15, 14 May 2020) that the compensation awarded to the applicants for their land expropriated for public needs was very low. With a decision dated 6 January 2023 the Council of Ministers expropriated the applicants’ land for the purpose of reconstruction of European route E79. The land expropriated from the first applicant – Mr   Dimitrov (application no. 25173/23) – was 9,336 square metres, and the land expropriated from the second applicant – Mr Spasov (application no.   28055/23) – was 6,766 square metres. Following a judicial review of the expropriation orders, with final judgments of the Montana Administrative Court of 17 February 2023 and of 22   March 2023 the first applicant was eventually awarded compensation for his land of 4,486 Bulgarian levs (BGN) (2,293 euros (EUR)), equivalent to BGN 0.48 (EUR 0.23) per square metre, while the second applicant received BGN   4,771 (EUR 2,439), equivalent to BGN 0.70 (EUR 0.36) per square metre. In both cases the compensation was based on the provisions of the Regulation on the calculation of the value of agricultural land (see, for more detail on it, Kostov and Others , cited above, §§ 30-32), since no transactions with land meeting the requirements to qualify as market comparable were found. The applicants complain under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, relying in addition on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, of the level of compensation they received, which they believe should be higher. They consider that the rules of the Regulation on the calculation of the value of agricultural land are outdated and do not reflect the real market prices of the properties. They refer to transactions with similar properties in the area with prices between BGN   1.40 (EUR 0.72) and 2.50 (EUR 1.28) per square metre, which were not however taken into account in the domestic proceedings, as the transactions had been carried out outside of the legal timeframe or the land belonged to the territory of a nearby village. QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES Were there in the two cases violations of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1? In particular, was the compensation awarded to the applicants reasonably related to the expropriated land’s value (see Kostov and Others v.   Bulgaria , nos.   66581/12 and 25054/15, 14 May 2020)? Are the data submitted by the applicants sufficient to show that the market value of their land could have been significantly higher?   No. Application no. Applicant Year of Birth Place of Residence Nationality 1. 25173/23 Dimitar Slavchev DIMITROV 1967 Montana Bulgarian 2. 28055/23 Slavcho   Dimitrov SPASOV 1938 Gorna Verenitsa Bulgarian