Published on 18 May 2026
 
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 47967/20
Igor Oleksandrovych NAZARENKO
against Ukraine
lodged on 16 October 2020
communicated on 30 April 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the applicant’s complaint that the Ukrainian authorities refused to recognise a will certified by a notary working on an occupied territory (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1).
On 26 October 2017 the applicant’s grandmother bequeathed him her apartment in Donetsk (outside of the control of the Ukrainian Government since 2014). The will was notarized by a notary in Donetsk where the grandmother lived.
On 26 November 2017 the grandmother died.
On 30 March 2018 the Artemivsk Court, located on the territory controlled by the Government, established the fact of her death.
On 5 April 2018 the Bakhmut Department of Registration of Civil Status (located on a Government-controlled territory) issued a death certificate.
On 26 February 2019 a notary in Mykolayiv (Government-controlled territory) refused to issue the applicant a certificate confirming his right to inherit the apartment. The notary stated that, according to the Ukrainian legislation, documents issued by the authorities on the territories not controlled by the Ukrainian Government were null and void and did not produce legal consequences. The applicant challenged the refusal before the courts providing video and audio records confirming that the grandmother had intended to bequeath her apartment to him.
The courts dismissed the applicant’s claims stating that the refusal was lawful (the final decision of the Supreme Court on 28 August 2020).
 
 
 
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
Has there been an interference with the applicant’s peaceful enjoyment of possessions, within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1? If so, has the interference been justified under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1? In particular, did that interference impose an excessive individual burden on the applicant (see Immobiliare Saffi v. Italy, [GC], no. 22774/93, § 59, ECHR 1999-V)?