EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
FIRST SECTION
CASE OF SPK DIMSKIY v. RUSSIA
(Application No. 27191/02)
JUDGMENT <*>
(Strasbourg, 18.III.2010)
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<*> This judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of SPK Dimskiy v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Nina {Vajic} <*>,
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<*> Здесь и далее по тексту слова на национальном языке набраны латинским шрифтом и выделены фигурными скобками.
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Giorgio Malinverni,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and {Andre} Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 25 February 2010,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (No. 27191/02) against the Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("the Convention") by the Agricultural production co-operative (SPK) "Dimskiy" ("the applicant"), on 30 May 2002.
2. The applicant was represented by Mr V. Okunev, a lawyer practising in Blagoveshchensk. The Russian Government ("the Government") were initially represented by Mr P. Laptev, Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights, and subsequently by their new Representative, Mr G. Matyushkin.
3. The applicant alleged, in particular, that the failure on the part of the Russian Government to implement the procedure for redemption of Urozhay-90 bonds had been in breach of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.
4. By a decision of 11 September 2008 the Court declared the application admissible.
5. The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1).
THE FACTS
I. The circumstances of the case
6. The applicant is the agricultural production co-operative "Dimskiy" (сельскохозяйственный производственный кооператив "Димский"), a legal entity under the Russian law, established in 1992 in the village of Novoaleksandrovka in the Tambov District of the Amur Region. The applicant was subsequently re-organised into a joint-stock company "Dimskoye" (ОАО "Димское").
A. Background information on Urozhay-90 bonds
7. In 1987 the General Secretary of the USSR Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev presented his "basic theses", which laid the political foundation for economic reform heralding the transition to a market economy. Several laws were enacted which opened up the State-dominated planned economy to private enterprise. However, the Government preferred to keep control over consumer prices rather than leaving them to be determined by the free market.
8. By 1990 Government spending increased sharply as a growing number of unprofitable enterprises required State support, whereas more resources were diverted to subsidise consumer prices. At the same time, the elimination of central control over production decisions, especially in the consumer-goods sector, led to a breakdown in traditional supply-demand relationships. This resulted in pervasive shortages of food and basic consumer goods. The Government reacted by introducing ration stamps for food and certain hygiene articles.
9. In addition to ration stamps, the Government of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR) <*> put into c
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