A court yesterday annulled a land expropriation that had taken place in 1965 and ordered the return of the land to its owners.

The court also awarded the owners €40,000 in compensation for the violation of their fundamental human rights.

Carmen Zammit, Miriam Galea, Joseph Cassar, Grace Borg, Emanuel Cassar and Annemarie Despott had filed a constitutional application against the Commissioner of Land and the Attorney General. They said they owned a bar in Żabbar that had been expropriated in 1965 for a public purpose.

The bar was demolished to make way for a civic centre and ancillary roads.

However, changes in the structure plans led the government in 1972 to decide against building roads in that area. Instead, another bar was built by the government on the land in question. The new bar, known as Kopside Café, was leased by the government to third parties.

In 2010, that is 45 years after the expropriation had taken place, the government had offered the owners €13,000 by way of compensation for the land.

Mr Justice Raymond C. Pace ruled that the state had the right to expropriate property for a public purpose but the land owners were entitled to compensation.

In this case, the expropriated property had been turned into a bar that was leased to third parties for trade purposes.

This could not be classified as a public purpose but was, in fact, a commercial transaction.