On 13 July 2023, the Constitutional Court held its 136th plenary session.
At this session, the Constitutional Court has, in accordance with the provisions of Article 98 (1) (a) and (2) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dismissed from office, Judge/Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko M. Knežević, before end of the term. This was upon his request dated 29 June 2023 and due to retirement effective 2 January 2023.
The Constitutional Court rejected to deliberate on the proposal made by the Vice-President Zlatko M. Knežević for the annulment of the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH of 19 June 2023 on Amendments to the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that removed the provision of Article 39 of the Rules.
In addition, at the today’s session the Constitutional Court adopted the Report on the Enforcement of the Decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH in addition to having decided some other administrative issues.
Of the decisions adopted at the plenary session, the Constitutional Court singles out the following:
U 15/20 – In deciding on this request, the Constitutional Court adopted the decision terminating the proceedings as the applicant Borjana Krišto, the Chair of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time of filing the request, has withdrawn the request. I the letter of 6 July 2023, requesting withdrawal of the request, the applicant stated that the Ministry of Justice of BiH prepared a Draft Law on Courts of BiH that should be examined at one of the following sessions of the Council of Ministers of BiH.
U 26/22 – In deciding on the requests of the Basic Court in Srebrenica, Basic Court in Banja Luka, Basic Court in Bijeljina and Basic Court in Doboj for review of certain provisions of the Law on Salaries and Compensations for Judges and Prosecutors in the Republika Srpska, the Constitutional Court established that disputed provision of this law are compatible with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
U 2/23 – In deciding on the request of the Cantonal Court in Tuzla for review of constitutionality of the Law on Tax Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Constitutional Court established that Articles 29 and 30 of the disputed law are compatible with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
U 13/23 – In deciding on the request filed by the Cantonal Court in Tuzla for review of the constitutionality of Article 46(5) of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, the Constitutional Court established that the disputed provision is compatible with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
AP 1307/21 (S.K.) – In this case, the Constitutional Court, inter alia, concluded that there is a violation of the right to a decision to be adopted within a reasonable time as the criminal proceedings against the appellant lasted for about eight years in the relevant period. The competent authorities failed to give a reasonable and logical explanation for doing so.
AP 1670/21 („ADDA-PROMET“ d.o.o. Velika Kladuša) – The Constitutional Court concluded in this case that there was a violation of the appellant’s right to property. The violation occurred because of dismissal of the appellant’s claim for damages for loss of profit owing to the blocking of the appellant’s account for a period of about eight years during which the appellant could not perform his registered activity. This resulted from the incorrectly calculated and collected tax.
AP 4476/22 (Radovan Stokanić) – The Constitutional Court concluded that there was a violation of right to freedom and security. The violation was found as the Basic Court failed to carry out the review, within the statutory time limit, of justification of detention of the appellant. Instead, it rendered the ruling almost two months after the expiry of the deadline, during which it was supposed to review the justification of detention.
All decisions adopted at today's plenary session will be delivered to the applicants/appellants within one month and published as soon as possible on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
