Today, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has held, by electronic means, 120th ordinary session of the Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Of decisions it adopted today the Constitutional Court has singled out the following:
AP-3683/20 - The Constitutional Court concluded that the interference with the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms constituted the violation of the mentioned human rights and freedoms. Namely, in the present case, there was an interference with the right to private life and the right to freedom of movement, by means of the Orders issued by the narrow segments of the executive authority concerning the mandatory wearing of protective face masks and the restriction of movement. These orders were issued in the present case by the crisis staffs of the health ministries. In this situation, the highest legislative and executive authorities failed to take active part in the adoption and review of the ordered measures.
AP-3357/20 - The Constitutional Court concluded that there was a violation of the right to private and family life, home and correspondence under Article II (3) (f) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 8 of the European Convention in a situation where the interference with the mentioned right was “unlawful”, i.e. where the court failed to decide, within the time limit of three days prescribed by law, an appeal lodged against the first instance ruling, instead it was done 15 days after the expiry of the said deadline prescribed under the provisions of Article 140b, paragraph (7) of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Federation of BiH. Also, the Constitutional Court concluded that such conduct on the part of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo resulted also in the violation of the right to an effective legal remedy under Article 13 of the European Convention, since the appellant’s appeal in the present case was not “effective” in terms of preventing the alleged violation of their right under Article II (3) (f) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 8 of the European Convention and the duration of that violation.
AP-2834/19 - The Constitutional Court concluded that there was a violation of the appellant’s right to a trial within a reasonable time as one of the elements of the right to a fair trial under Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6(1) of the European Convention in a situation where the respective enforcement procedure, which is of urgent nature under the law, was pending for eight years and six months. This was, to a decisive extent, due to a lack of promptness in the conduct of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, which, following the issuance of the ruling on enforcement, had a period of passiveness in work which lasted for four years and six months. However, the court provided no justification for this passiveness whatsoever.
All decisions adopted at today’s session will be delivered to the appellants within one month and published as soon as possible on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
