The truth has prevailed, but the verdict is not yet final.
Since 2003, the Királyhágómelléki Reformed Church District has been litigating for the patinated school building nationalized in 1948 by the communist regime, which currently houses the Silvania High School, but as we have seen in the case of other confiscated properties,
the state does not easily give up what it has already acquired.
The latest chapter of the restitution process began in 2019, when the Supreme Court ordered the trial to be reopened at first instance. This was something to be happy about, after the restitution committee in Bucharest refused to return the building, the church district challenged the decision, and then lost the case at first instance. After an appeal to the Supreme Court, they managed to get the trial restarted.
The Cluj District Court made the first-instance decision on Friday, according to which
the rightful owner of the building is the Reformed Church.
The restitution committee can file an appeal within 15 days, if this is not done, the state is obliged to return the 20,132 square meter area together with the properties on it. The church must wait five years for the school situation to be settled and for you to take possession of the building. The court also ordered that the government pay the costs of the litigation, 11,950 lei, to the church.
The decision of the district court is also interesting because the Zila prosecutor's office recently initiated criminal proceedings against bishops István Csűry and Béla Kató, who were summoned on suspicion of falsifying documents related to restitution, giving bribes and abusing forged documents. According to the church leaders, they wanted to delay the return of the building with the criminal trial.
Featured image: The patina building of the Wesselényi college in Zila • Photo: Facebook/Colegiul Național "Silvania" Zalău
