Articles

Notes Regarding Ekhwan Botros School, El-Baliana 

How the Egyptian government agencies proceed to erase Coptic Assets

The Coptic Orthodox Bishopric of Baliana owns the property number1, Ref 2353, Baliana town, which consists of a St Makarious Church, and the bishopric building (residence + admin offices) and Ekhwan Botros Preparatory School.

The ownership of the school was not in disputed till 1969. There has been 3 officially registered sale contracts with the following numbers 3719 dated 29/8/1921, 15 dated 6/4/1924, and registered contract on the first of September 1928 issued by Gerga County (previous name of Sohag County) to the benefit of the Baliana Bishopric which built a church and a preparatory school.

As the Metropolitan was residing at a private residence at the St. Mary Church in Baliana, and he desired to reside at the school, he built a new school next to the old one, the Coptic preparatory school funded by the bishopric funds, and also built a new fence between the old and the new school (The current building for the bishopric, the fence still in existence)

As the Milli Council (Coptic Secular Councils) laws, mandates to the deputy of the Council the management of the endowments, the judgment in Marriage/ Personal Status matters, and the management of the bishopric schools, as Mr. Amin Botros was the Deputy of the council, in his capacity he was the Headmaster of the “Ekhwan Botros” School.

After the departure of Mr. Amin Botros in 1969, the Education Authority proceeded to seize the school claiming that the school was a private property of Mr. Amin Botros, rather than a Government Supported School owned by the Bishopric of Baliana, and then put the school under governmental guardianship according to law 138 for year 1961 depriving the bishopric from its legitimate ownership.

In spite of the registered sales contracts being in the possession of the bishopric, the Education Authorities insists that the school was a private property of the late Mr. Amin Botros. At the insistence of the education authority, the Bishopric produced a court judgment to prove that the school and its contents are owned by the bishopric, the bishopric produced documents of ownership, which was refused by the Education Authorities, and the Education Authorities appealed the court decision.

At this stage, the Coptic Bishopric had no alternative but to go to court to prove ownership, the court mandated three “expert” who looked at the matter and concluded that the ownership of the school belongs to the bishopric, which was again proven from the “Estate Tax Enlisting”, so the court verdict was in favour of the bishopric on 28/2/1981, and when the court decision was appealed, it was refused by the appeal court under the local authorities laws.

After a further order from the local governor to seize the land, the Bishopric was told to take the

Local governor to court rather than the Minister for Education according to Local Government laws, this was done in court hearing number 2112 for year 1982, Civil Court Sohag.

On 30/3/1985 the Appeal court refused to consider the case for being not the relevant court and passed the case to the “Values Court” according to article 6/1 law 13 for year 1981. The decision to go to “Values Court” was supported by Appeal Court Hearing dated 2/4/1990 case number 206.

The “Values Court”, using expert reports concluded that the ownership of the school with its contents belongs to the bishopric of Baliana in court case 70 on 18/12/1993.

The Local governor appealed “Values Court” decision, hearing number 8, year 14 on 28/1/1995 High “Values Court” refused the governor appeal and supported previous ruling in favour of the bishopric.

As the bishopric started to apply the court ruling, the governor used a technical process to delay the application of the court ruling, which was refused a court hearing on 23/1/1996.

On 13/1/1996 the local governor produced an order number 14 for year 1996 to seize the school for public benefit and security reasons!! As a result, the bishopric went to administrative court in Assiut to cancel the governor’s order. The ruling from the administrative court number 5 year 18 on 1/2/1997 shows the unconstitutionality of the law 521 year 1955 which was used to remove the ownership of the school from the bishopric.

Lastly in 11/8/1999 the administrative court cancelled the appeal decision, and then it came to our knowledge that this was appealed and learned that there was a decision from the Prim minster to seize the school

Article 1: It is for general benefit to build a preparatory school in Baliana Sohag

Article 2: The whole area, land and buildings is to be seized in its entirety for the project aforementioned. The total area is 1846.63 Sq meters as shown in the drawings.

Court verdicts were in favour of Baliana bishopric at all levels

-“Hearing no 1230 on 28/2/1981” ruled in favour of the Baliana bishopric.

-Appeal Court ruling 2112 year 1982 on 30 March 1985, ruled in favour of the Baliana bishopric.

-“Values Court” decision number 70 year 13 on 18/12/1993 ruled in favour of the Baliana bishopric.

-“High Values Court” ruling number 8 year 14 on 28/1/1995 ruled in favour of the Baliana bishopric

On 13/1/1996 the governor of Sohag produced an order to seize the school; “this was his last decision before his transfer to another governorate”.

The Government attorney appealed the Administrative Court decision; the High Administrative Court in Cairo refused the appeal by the Government attorney (ruling number 600 7k 11/8/1999 final decision)

It came to our knowledge that the Minister for Education wrote a note to the Prim Minster, incorrectly claiming that we did not contest the governor decision to seize the school ignoring the fact that we did and obtained a ruling “the unconstitutionality of the law 521 year 1955 which was used to remove the ownership of the school from the bishopric” on 1/2/1997 and as a result the Prim Minster made a decision to seize the school.

The Prim Minster decision number 3759 year 1999 on 30/9/1999 was based on the wrong information passed to him by the minister for education.

The Bishopric of Baliana is now contesting the Prim minster unfair, baseless decision at the Administrative Court in Assiut, first hearing was 1^st Feb 2005, but the hearing was adjourned several times, next hearing going to be 16 October 2007.

The “Education Buildings Administration” is trying to change the school ownership registration at the “Estate Registry”, also rumors are rife that the Ministry of Education is waiting till the end of school year to demolish the school, something which can lead to great unrest, confrontations and even blood shed as no one accepts that the bishopric properties could be seized and lost for ever to government agencies in this manner bearing in mind it has been 36 years so far of legal battles all courts ruled in favour of the Bishopric of Baliana.