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UNIYA OOO AND BELCOURT TRADING COMPANY v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
194. On 21 November 2000, at the request of the Krasnoznamenskiy
District Prosecutor, the Krasnoznamenskiy District Court declared that
alcohol “derelict property”. In those proceedings the District Prosecutor
asserted to the court that nobody had claimed ownership of that alcohol.
Neither Uniya nor Mr Golovkin was informed about the court proceedings,
and did not participate in them. As a result of that decision, the State
obtained ownership of the alcohol. It appears that that alcohol was destroyed
or reprocessed some time later.
195. On 17 August 2004 the Kaliningrad Tsentralniy District Court (“the
Tsentralniy District Court”) declared the investigator’s decision of 4 August
2000 unlawful. On 28 August 2004 the Kaliningrad Regional Court
confirmed the decision of the first-instance court of 17 August 2004.
196. Uniya introduced a tort claim against the State before the
commercial courts, seeking damages for the alcohol destroyed. By a final
judgment of 3 February 2004 the Kaliningrad Region Commercial Court
dismissed that claim in full.
197. On 15 May 2006 the Presidium of the Kaliningrad Regional Court
quashed, by way of supervisory review, the Krasnoznamenskiy District
Court judgment of 21 November 2000 whereby the alcohol had been
declared “derelict property”.
198. On an unspecified date Uniya introduced a tort claim against the
State with reference to Article 139 of the CCrP.
199. On 11 July 2007 the Tsentralniy District Court awarded Uniya
RUB 17,433,259 for that consignment of alcohol, against the Ministry of
Finance. In the proceedings the Ministry of Finance alleged that the alcohol
at issue had been received by Uniya from Belcourt without any advance
payment, and that the seller (Belcourt) had not yet recovered the price of the
alcohol or the penalty payments from Uniya. They concluded that Uniya
had incurred no losses in relation to the seizure and destruction of that
alcohol.
200. The Kaliningrad Regional Prosecutor, who had also participated in
the proceedings on behalf of the State, insisted that Uniya’s tort claim
should be rejected because the exact price of the alcohol was unclear.
201. The District Court, however, rejected both arguments. It noted that
Uniya had a contractual obligation to pay for that alcohol, and that it was
clear from the correspondence between Belcourt and Uniya that the former
was insisting on payment of the outstanding amounts. Therefore, the fact
that Belcourt had not brought an action against Uniya in respect of that
consignment of alcohol was irrelevant.
202. On the second point the District Court observed that the price of the
alcohol was indicated in the contracts between Uniya and Belcourt
(USD 7.35 per bottle), that it corresponded to the price declared in the
customs declarations, and that it had not changed throughout the time in
question.
UNIYA OOO AND BELCOURT TRADING COMPANY v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
39
203. Finally, the District Court held that the alcohol at issue belonged to
Uniya, since the property title, under the contracts, had been transferred to
the buyer at the moment of receipt.
204. On 18 September 2007 the Kaliningrad Regional Court upheld the
award in part, reducing it to RUB 8,716,629. This excluded penalty
payments which Uniya would have to make to Belcourt.
205. On 20 July 2009 the Presidium of the Kaliningrad Regional Court
quashed the decision of the Regional Court and remitted the case for a new
examination at the appeal level.
206. On 18 August 2009 the Kaliningrad Regional Court confirmed the
decision of 11 July 2007, reaffirming that Uniya’s losses consisted of the
price of the alcohol seized plus the amount of the penalty payments Uniya
would have to make to Belcourt. The final award for the 37,184 bottles of
alcohol seized was therefore RUB 17,433,259.
E. Other court proceedings related to the seizure of the alcohol
207. It appears that Uniya has been involved in other court proceedings
which concerned the seizure of alcohol.
208. Thus, by a judgment of 15 June 2009 the Kaliningrad Region
Commercial Court awarded Belcourt USD 1,000 on account of penalty
payments due from Uniya under a contract with Belcourt, plus court costs
(RUB 33,522 in toto).
209. In February 2009 Uniya lodged a claim against the State, seeking to
recover the amount awarded earlier in favour of Belcourt in the proceedings
before the Commercial Court.
210. On 10 September 2009 the Baltiyskiy District Court rejected the
applicant company’s tort claim. On 20 October 2009 the Kaliningrad
Regional Court quashed that judgment and remitted the case to the
first-instance court. On 23 November 2009 the tort claim in the amount of
RUB 33,522 was examined again by the Baltiyskiy District Court and
rejected. On 9 February 2010 the Kaliningrad Regional Court confirmed the
judgment of 23 November 2009.
211. In June 2010 Uniya lodged a claim against the State, seeking
compensation for the protracted examination of its case against the State
concerning the second consignment of alcohol, which had ended with the
judgment of 25 May 2010. Uniya sought RUB 1,000,000 in damages.
212. On 12 July 2010 the Kaliningrad Regional Court allowed the claim
in part, awarding Uniya RUB 25,000 for breach of the “reasonable-time”
requirement.
213. The Government did not produce copies of the judicial decisions
they referred to, and did not indicate the names of the courts which had
taken those decisions. The applicant did not provide any additional
information on those proceedings either.