At its 112th session held today, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided on a number of requests for the review of constitutionality of laws and the appeals on the alleged violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as on the several internal decisions proposals.
Amongst others, in the case U 18/18 the Constitutional Court dismissed the request lodged by the Basic Court in Derventa for review of constitutionality of Article 329, paragraph 1 item b) of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republika Srpska and Article 3 of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republika Srpska which provide for the second instance court a possibility to quash a judgement in the criminal proceedings due to erroneously or incompletely established facts and to refer the case back to the first instance court for retrial. The Constitutional Court concluded that the challenged provisions are in conformity with Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6(1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, for the reason that conferring the authority to appellate court in order to, in the procedure after the legal remedy has been exhausted and after the first instance decision has been quashed due to erroneously and incompletely established facts, remit the case to the first instance court with instructions how to remove noticed deficiencies, does not constitute a violation of the principle of impartiality and independence of the court, or violation of the right to equality of arms in the proceeding or the right to a fair trial within reasonable time, i.e. the right to a fair trial in general.
In the case U 15/18, deciding the request filed by Borjana Krišto, Second Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives at the time of filing the request, for review of constitutionality of the provision of Article 20 item g of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Constitutional Court established that the provision of Article 20 item g of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the challenged part reading as follows: “Expert associates as well as investigators working for the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the authorization of the Prosecutor shall also be considered as authorized officials”, is compatible with Article (I)(2) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitutional Court, inter alia, established that the above provision in the challenged part meets the “quality of law” requirement in terms of its precision and clarity and foreseeability, thereby not leaving room for arbitrary decision-making and possible abuses, i.e. it is compatible with the rule of law principle under Article (I)(2) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All decisions on the requests for the review of constitutionality and the appeals taken at the session are to be delivered to the appellants within one month time-limit and posted on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
