CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 29 mai 2002

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA1D3DA2E { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .s3F59B822 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-transform:uppercase } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sD35C6159 { width:1.54pt; display:inline-block } .s4598CDF { width:70.9pt; display:inline-block } .sF9A986A5 { width:12.2pt; display:inline-block } .sCB27B9E { width:16.66pt; display:inline-block } .sC5412BEF { width:51.05pt; display:inline-block }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   288   29.5.2002     Press release issued by the Registrar   GRAND CHAMBER HEARING IN THE CASES OF POLACEK v. CZECH REPUBLIC and Gratzinger v. CZECH REPUBLIC   Wednesday 29 May 2002 at 9 a.m.     The applicants The cases Polacek v. the Czech Republic (application no. 38645/97) and Gratzinger v. the Czech Republic (no. 39794/98) concern applications brought by four United States nationals of Czech origin, Joseph Polacek and Libuse Polackova, who live in Oxford (Connecticut) and Peter Gratzinger and Eva Gratzingerova, who live in Santa Rosa (California).   Summary of the facts The cases concern the applicants’ inability, as United States nationals, to recover property confiscated by the former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. After fleeing the communist regime, the applicants were convicted in absentia in 1974 and 1983 respectively; they were sentenced to imprisonment and had all their property confiscated (a chalet and a plot of land in the case of Mr Polacek and Mrs Polackova and a family home, a plot of land and a garden in the case of Mr Gratzinger and Mrs   Gratzingerová). Having settled in the United States, they acquired American nationality, thereby automatically losing their Czech nationality. In 1990 their convictions and the decisions to confiscate their property were quashed by the Czech courts with retrospective effect. However, actions subsequently brought by the applicants for recovery of the property were dismissed under the Extrajudicial Rehabilitation Act (Law no. 87/1991), which provides that restitution claims may only be submitted by Czech nationals.   Complaints Relying on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (protection of property), all four applicants complain of the Czech courts’ refusal to return their former property and allege that they were discriminated against because they were not Czech nationals. The applicants in Gratzinger v. the Czech Republic further rely on Articles 8 and 6 of the Convention, alleging an infringement of their right to respect for their home and of their right to a public hearing in proceedings before the Constitutional Court.   Procedure The applications were lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 21 September 1995 and 16 January 1998 respectively. Both were referred to the Court on 1 November 1998. On 28 November 2001 the Chamber to which the cases had been assigned decided unanimously to relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber.       Composition of the Court   The cases will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Luzius Wildhaber (Swiss), President , Christos Rozakis (Greek), Jean-Paul Costa (French), Georg Ress (German), Sir Nicolas Bratza (British), Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Pranas Kūris (Lithuanian), Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), Viera Strážnická (Slovakian), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Marc Fischbach (Luxemburger), Boštjan Zupančič (Slovenian), John Hedigan (Irish), Hanne Sophie Greve (Norwegian), Kristaq Traja (Albanian), Stanislav Pavlovschi (Moldovan), judges , Giovanni Bonello (Maltese), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Gaukur Jörundsson (Icelandic), substitute judges , and also Paul Mahoney , Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Vít Schorm , Agent ,   Eva Vachovcová , Adviser .   Applicants:   Dagmar Satrapová , Counsel ,   Daniel Novotný , Lenka Urbanová, Advisers .   ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility will be delivered at a later date.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: (0)3 90 21 42 15) Fax: (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.