Bulgaria has violated the rights of Elka Atanasova by failing to take timely and effective action against illegal coal mining under her home in the Pernik neighborhood of “Rudničar“. The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) comes on 03.03, after Bulgarian institutions and courts failed to provide effective protection against the continuing risk to her family's home. The case was filed by Elka Atanasova* with the support of the Ecological Association “Za Zemiata“, Greenpeace - Bulgaria and the human rights organization Client Earth.
The Strasbourg court's ruling confirms that the state has the obligation to guarantee the right to property of citizens by taking real and adequate action to do so. “The institutions have been well aware of the illegal coal mining and the risk to citizens for years, but instead of taking action, each has been telling the other not to do so. The Strasbourg court tells us that this “passing the ball“ between institutions violates the rights of citizens and the international obligations of our country.“ says Regina Stoilova, one of the lawyers in the case. The applicant was awarded compensation of 20,000 euros for material damages and 5,000 euros for moral damages.
The case began back in 2010, when illegal excavation activities began under the family's house. For years, Elka's mother filed reports to the municipality, the police, the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Energy. Everything is documented in detail, with incoming numbers, dates and descriptions of the risk, a total of 76 pages with a detailed description of the blows of the picks and the male voices heard in Elka's home, as well as the fear of meeting the illegal diggers or of the house collapsing. Police checks and the few insignificant fines imposed over the years do not stop the diggers.
In 2013, landslides began to activate in the Rudničar area. Holes with a diameter of 1 - 1.5 meters and cracks in the ground several meters wide opened up. One of the landslides from 2015 seriously damaged the foundations of Elka's house, the walls cracked, and the property was declared dangerous. Already in 2013, the risk of collapse, a life of constant anxiety and the lack of an adequate response from the institutions forced Elka to leave her home and start over somewhere else. After the case was neglected by municipal institutions and the court, Elka turned to the European Court of Human Rights.
„This decision is a clear signal that the state cannot abdicate its obligations when its citizens are faced with real and ongoing danger. Illegal coal mining in an urban area is not a private problem - it is a matter of the rule of law“, commented Radostina Slavkova from „Za Zemiata“.
The ECHR decision creates an important precedent for cases related to environmental risk, industrial waste and institutional inaction. It obliges the Bulgarian state not only to pay fair compensation, but also to guarantee that such violations will not be repeated.
„The case is indicative of the role of civil society organizations in upholding people's rights. Two Bulgarian organizations and one international one have been working for over ten years for the decision of the Court of Human Rights, which awards compensation for the damages suffered, but more importantly - confirms the obligation of institutions to take adequate action when citizens' rights are at risk, commented Regina Stoilova.