News
ECHR admits case concerning unlawful deprivation of ownership of a land plot for consideration, case represented by LESHCHENKO & PARTNERS
On 24 October 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg admitted for consideration the application in the case of S. v. Ukraine, prepared by the legal team of LESHCHENKO & PARTNERS.
The case concerns the unlawful deprivation of ownership of a land plot of over 40 hectares in the Kyiv region, which the applicant — a client of the firm — lawfully acquired under a purchase agreement as a bona fide purchaser from an agricultural enterprise. The land plot, which had previously belonged to a collective agricultural enterprise (kolkhoz), was registered in the state registers as the property of an agricultural production cooperative. Having verified the official data and acting in good faith, the applicant purchased the land, duly registered ownership, and paid its full value.
Subsequently, the prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit in the interests of the state, represented by the Ivankiv Settlement Council of the Kyiv Region, seeking to terminate the applicant’s ownership and reclaim the land. The court of first instance dismissed the claim; however, the court of appeal, without the applicant’s participation — and solely at the prosecutor’s request — overturned that decision and issued a new ruling ordering the land to be reclaimed in favor of the state. The Supreme Court upheld this decision.
In the application prepared by LESHCHENKO & PARTNERS on behalf of the applicant, it is argued that Ukraine violated the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions, guaranteed by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the right to a fair trial, enshrined in Article 6 of the Convention.
The applicant emphasizes that the state interfered with the property rights of a bona fide purchaser, shifting the consequences of its own procedural errors in land registration onto a private individual. The applicant received no compensation, alternative property, or any other effective remedy to restore the violated right.
Beyond the individual aspect, the case raises a systemic issue of legal certainty concerning the transfer of lands formerly owned by collective agricultural enterprises into private or state ownership, and the consequences of the “automatic” recognition of such lands as state property after 2019 without providing compensation mechanisms to lawful owners.
The case before the ECHR is being handled by Managing Partner Oleksandr Leshchenko and Partner, Head of the Odesa Office Andrii Leshchenko.
“The admission of the application by the ECHR is an important stage not only for our client but also for the entire legal system of Ukraine. The Court recognized that the alleged violations carry sufficient legal weight for international consideration. This confirms that we are building our legal arguments correctly, guided by ECHR standards and the principle of good governance. The case is very similar to the recently won case ‘Odeska Buterbrodna Kompaniia, LLC v. Ukraine’. At present, the emergence of such a line of cases clearly indicates that Ukrainian state authorities must realize: a bona fide owner cannot be deprived of property because of the system’s own mistakes”
