HAVET & VANHUFFEL – Association d’avocats
By judgment of 3 March 2026 (case 4711/20 – Tishkina v. Bulgaria), the European Court of Human Rights condemned Bulgaria to pay several sums for failing to take measures to protect an individual’s property from the consequences of illegal activities carried out by private individuals near her home.
The case concerns a Bulgarian applicant who complained, under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, that the Bulgarian State had not taken the necessary measures to protect her house from damage caused by the illegal coal mining by private individuals. Her house, located in Pernik, suffered irreparable structural damage due to tunnels dug under the building by illegal miners.
Pernik is a city historically linked to the mining industry. After the closure of an underground mine in 1962, coal exploitation continued elsewhere in the region, and in 2003 a mining company was granted a concession to exploit the coal basin. At the same time, between 1996 and 1998, private individuals began engaging in small-scale illegal mining, digging tunnels to extract coal for the black market.
This illegal activity intensified over the years. Hundreds of people participated, and several fatal accidents were reported. Authorities attempted to combat this phenomenon through inspections, tunnel closures, and awareness campaigns, but these measures proved insufficient. The illegal mining threatened not only homes but also certain infrastructure.
The applicant’s house had been purchased by her mother in 1995. From 2010 onwards, they noticed that miners were digging tunnels under their house. They heard pickaxe noises and felt vibrations, especially at night. The applicant’s mother filed numerous complaints with local authorities, the police, and the mining company to report the situation.
Despite these complaints, the illegal activities continued, and the damage to the house worsened: large cracks in the walls, deformation of the windows, and subsidence of the ground and terrain. In 2013, the applicant left the house, considering it no longer safe. Subsequently, a major landslide in July 2015 aggravated the damage, and the house was declared uninhabitable and beyond repair.
Local authorities, the police, the Ministry of Economy, and the mining company exchanged numerous correspondences regarding the illegal mining problem. However, there was significant uncertainty as to which authority was responsible for taking concrete measures. Before 2015, the main actions consisted of filling in tunnel entrances, but these were quickly reopened by the miners.
In 2017, the applicant filed a liability action against the municipality of Pernik, claiming that the authorities had failed in their obligation to protect her property. Bulgarian courts dismissed her claim, considering that the responsibility lay with the concessionary company and that the mayor had taken the measures within his competence.
Before the European Court of Human Rights, the applicant argued that the authorities had long been aware of the illegal mining problem but had not acted effectively or in a timely manner. The Bulgarian government replied that the damage had been caused by private individuals and that the State had taken all reasonable measures possible in a difficult context.
The Court recalled that Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 also imposes positive obligations on States to protect the peaceful enjoyment of property. It found several failings: lack of a comprehensive assessment of the illegal mining phenomenon, lack of coordination between authorities, ineffective measures to prevent damage, and an insufficient legal framework to combat such activities.
The Court concluded that the Bulgarian authorities had not taken reasonable measures to protect the applicant’s property and had failed to strike a fair balance between the public interest and the applicant’s individual rights.
For these reasons, the European Court of Human Rights considers that the Bulgarian State violated Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to property, and orders Bulgaria to pay the applicant, within three months from the date on which the judgment becomes final pursuant to Article 44 § 2 of the Convention, the following amounts:
i) €20,000 (twenty thousand euros), plus any tax that may be payable, for pecuniary damage;
ii) €5,112 (five thousand one hundred and twelve euros), plus any tax that may be payable, for non-pecuniary damage;
b) from the expiry of that period until payment, these amounts shall bear simple interest at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank applicable during the default period, plus three percentage points.
To access the judgment, follow the link: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-248835%22]}.