THE COURTS HAVE RENDERED AN IRREVOCABLE RULING ARCB: "Cathedral Plaza" will be pulled down

• Robert Roşu, the lawyer of MBD: "The decision has no impact on the right of ownership of < Cathedral Plaza >, because the owner of the building has not been summoned to appear in court and has not been a part of this lawsuit"

The legal system has issued a definitive and irrevocable, which states that the "Cathedral Plaza" building will be pulled down, according to priest Francisc Doboş, spokesperson of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest (ARCB). He said that there are no further avenues of attack and only an annulment of this ruling by the Court of Dâmboviţa could save the controversial building located near the "St. Joseph" (Sf. Iosif) Cathedral, and said he would present all the aspects of this case in a press conference which is set to take place today.

"The court has irrevocably decided that this illegal building needs to be pulled down for the protection of the < Sfântul Iosif > Cathedral. At the press conference we will maintain that the Archdiocese has fulfilled the last requirement of the public authorities so they can move to bringing down < Cathedral Plaza >", a press release of the ARCB states.

Lawyer Robert Roşu, coordinating partner at "Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii", which represents the developer, considers that the decision announced by the Court of Târgovişte "has no bearing on the right of ownership of < Cathedral Plaza >, because "Millennium Building Development" (MBD), the owner of the building has not been summoned to appear in court and is not a party in this lawsuit". "The principle of relativity does not allow the effects of a ruling to affect other entities which have not been a part of the lawsuit and couldn't defend themselves - therefore, the ruling is not binding to the owner of the building".

According to Robert Roşu, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has constantly condemned the national courts which have issued rulings concerning assets without summoning their owners to appear in court.

He also said: "This decision does not state that < Cathedral Plaza > should be pulled down, rather it requires the City to issue a document by which to initiate a procedure for its dismantling. Such documents have been issued before, and their illegality is obvious when considering it is not the role of the General Mayor to issue such documents".

The lawyer emphasized that so far, all the requests for the bringing down of the building have been denied by the courts.

In June last year, the Court of Dâmboviţa has issued a civil ruling which required the mayor of Bucharest "to decide the dismantling of the < Cathedral Plaza > tower and to take all the necessary measures to restore the plot of land to the situation which it was in effect prior to the issue of the building authorization, in order to restore the natural environment of the area, in order to protect the < Sf. Iosif > Cathedral".

The ruling has been appealed.

A few months ago, the representatives of MBD said that there is no ruling which requires the building to be pulled down, in any of the lawsuits which the company is a part of, and said: "If a court did indeed decide to require the Mayoralty of Bucharest to take certain actions concerning the building without even summoning < Millennium Building Development > to appear in court, we will investigate the circumstances under which such a ruling could be issued without honoring even the most basic right of the owner of the building to defend itself".

The "Cathedral Plaza" case was opened in 2006, filed by the ARCB with the Court of Bucharest. The case was relocated to Constanţa, Craiova, Piteşti, the Constitutional Court of Romania, Târgovişte, Ploieşti, going through Suceava, Alba Iulia and Iaşi. Meanwhile, the "Cathedral Plaza" case has also been heard a few times by the ECHR.

In the meantime, the Court has over ten ongoing lawsuits which have different legal matters, but all have the same goal - the dismantling of the "Cathedral Plaza" building.

The construction of the controversial 19-floor building began in 2006, with 60 million Euros having been invested so far in this building.

After beginning the works, the building permit was suspended, and the representatives of the developer announced in a press release that in May 2011, the building was sold to a British investment Fund. The investors viewed the ruling of the court as tardy.

The Mayoralty has asked for the demolition of the building, in September 2011, and one month later, the developer announced that the building was open for receiving tenants. In January 2012, "Millennium Building Development" filed a complaint against the Romanian state with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The company alleged that the rulings of the Suceava Court of Appeal, which cancelled the building permit for the construction of the building located near the "Sf. Iosif" cathedral, "violates the European Convention of Human Rights, which protects the private property and guarantees the right to a fair trial". The ECHR has rejected the complaint of "Millennium Building Development", which has "Willbrook" as a majority shareholder.