Constitutional Court rules Opocno Chateau is to be returned to the state

The Constitutional Court has overruled a district and regional court, which returned the state-owned Opocno Chateau to the Colloredo-Mansfeld family. The aristocratic family, which has been fighting a ten-year court battle to win back the property, says it will appeal against the ruling at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg.

The Opocno Chateau and surrounding grounds in East Bohemia were seized by the Nazis in 1942 and later nationalised by the post-war Czechoslovak state. The Colloredo-Mansfeld family argue they were denied the right to claim back the property because they were wrongly labelled Nazi collaborators after the war.