MOSCOW, February 14 - RAPSI. The European Court of Human Rights has declared illegal the Moscow government's decision to evict Viktor and Elvira Tkacheva from their apartment in central Moscow, according to the court's judgment published on its website on Tuesday.

The applicants maintained that the government decided to evict them from their six-room flat in 2005 to rebuild the Moscow State Art Gallery of painter Alexander Shilov. However, the applicants insist that the authorities reconstructed the premises to turn it into a luxury residential building.

The couple complained that they were forced to move to a far less prestigious apartment adjacent to a railroad. Nonetheless, local courts decided that their housing rights had not been violated and their living conditions had not worsened as the new apartment was more expensive and spacious than their previous property.

The applicants appealed to the Strasbourg court to declare the eviction illegal and to award them compensation for moral damage. The court sided with the spouses and ruled that the authorities violated their housing rights. The court has yet to consider the compensation amount and given the parties three months to agree on the sum.