The Strasbourg court supported Colloredo-Mansfeldová in the Opočno case

Strasbourg - The European Court of Human Rights has supported Kristina Colloredo-Mansfeld's effort to reinstate proceedings in Czech courts regarding the return of furnishings from the Opočno Castle. Specifically, the Czech courts did not include the decision of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Agriculture from 1947 about the nationalization of Opočno among the evidence. This is apparent from the written ruling published by the court on its website today.

"The court states that this complaint is not evidently unfounded" and must be declared admissible, the verdict states.

Czech courts rejected the applicant's requests for the return of the furnishings from the Renaissance Opočno Castle in the Rychnov region. Colloredo-Mansfeld is seeking a reopening of the proceedings, claiming she did not receive a fair trial. Most recently, the Constitutional Court rejected Colloredo-Mansfeld's request to reopen proceedings on two earlier unsuccessful complaints in November.

The Strasbourg court reminded that Colloredo-Mansfeld complained about the violation of the right to a fair trial in Czech courts based on Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Agriculture from 1947, on which the domestic courts relied in their rulings, was not included among the evidence. She could not comment on this fact and both the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic and the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic failed to take appropriate measures to rectify this deficiency, Colloredo-Mansfeld complained.

On April 30, 1947, the Ministry of Agriculture declared the Opočno Castle, including its furnishings, as state property.

Colloredo-Mansfeld also sought reopening of proceedings at the Czech Constitutional Court, which rejected it, just as in the case of her cousin Jerome Colloredo-Mannsfeld. Descendants of the noble family then turned to the Strasbourg court.

Colloredo-Mansfeld considers herself the heir to the furnishings of Opočno Castle. The furnishings were first confiscated by the Gestapo in 1942 and immediately after the war by the Czechoslovak state. The Regional National Committee annulled the expropriation in January 1947 based on the finding that the ancestor of the current applicant was a loyal Czechoslovak citizen. The subsequent fate of the property has been the subject of legal disputes since 2000.

Colloredo-Mansfeld's cousin Jerome gained support from the Strasbourg court two years ago. The court stated that the Czech courts violated Colloredo-Mannsfeld's right to a fair trial and did not give him the opportunity to respond to key evidence on which they based their negative decisions. The Strasbourg court saw this as a contradiction to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Based on the ruling, Colloredo-Mannsfeld will submit a proposal to reopen proceedings against the decision of the Czech Constitutional Court so that his claim for the return of the furnishings from Opočno Castle can be properly reconsidered by Czech courts.

Initially, Czech courts definitively transferred 68 paintings to the co-ownership of the restitutors. However, they subsequently rejected the claim for the return of the remaining furnishings from Opočno Castle in two separate proceedings. This concerns a collection with thousands of items, including, for example, a ceremonial carriage, 38 paintings, dozens of light fixtures, or 223 items from a weapon collection, hunting trophies, or dining services. Conservationists have previously estimated the value of the entire collection at more than one billion crowns.