The Constitutional Court of BiH held today its regular 13th session of the Grand Chamber.
Deciding on the appeals in regards to Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6 paragraph 1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in relation to adoption of decision within reasonable time-limit, the Court adopted a number of decisions establishing a violation of the appellants’ rights to a fair trial and dismissed a number of appeals as ill-founded in cases in which it found no such violation.
For the illustration purposes we present the following:
Constitutional Court of BiH has partially granted the appeal lodged by Mr. Goran Zubac from Trebinje in the part which relates to alleged violation of the right to presumption of innocence.
Constitutional Court of BiH found a violation of Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6 paragraph 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the procedure of establishing “criminal charges” in regards to statements of some officials on the appellant’s “guilt” and which as such, have presupposed the decision of the competent judicial authority.
Constitutional Court of BiH, while maintaining the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in regards to that issue, finds that the officials, when giving their statements, should have acted with particular caution when choosing words to describe appellant’s criminal liability. Considering the contents of their statements, the Constitutional Court finds that such statements have encouraged the public to believe that the appellant is guilty even before his guilt was proven which is in accordance with the law and that due to such statements there was a violation of the appellant’s right under Article 6 paragraph 2 of the European Convention.
Also, we would like to reiterate the problem of adoption of decisions with reasonable time-limit i.e the practice of the courts and administrative authorities, due to various reasons, in which they fail to take sufficient account of the standards under 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. Accordingly, the problem of adoption of decisions within reasonable time-limit is significantly present in the court case-law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a consequence, inter alia, a great number of appeals is lodged with the Constitutional Court of BiH in connection with the right to a fair trial in the part relating to adoption of decisions with reasonable time-limit.
In accordance with Article 16(4) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Court rejected a number of appeals lodged in an untimely fashion, after the expiration of the time-limit for submitting appeal or prematurely in cases in which it was established that the appellants failed to use all available legal remedies in the previous proceedings.
The Court adopted a number of appeals in which appeals were rejected as inadmissible which are manifestly prima facie ill-founded. The requests of appellants in cases in which the Court established so, were not justified, or the facts the appellants presented to the Court in those cases could not have in any manner justified the claim of the appellants that there is a violation of their rights protected by the Constitution or that the parties in the proceedings bear consequences of violation of rights protected by the Constitution.
In all cases in which the Court found there was a violation of the appellants’ right to a fair trial, the competent courts or administrative authorities were ordered complete the proceedings to urgently and inform the Constitutional Court of BiH, in line with Article 74(5) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of BiH, within three months from the date of submission of decision, on the measures taken to enforce the decisions.
All decisions adopted at the session shall be published on the webpage of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina within a time limit of one month, following the delivery to the appellants.
Deciding on the appeals in regards to Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6 paragraph 1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in relation to adoption of decision within reasonable time-limit, the Court adopted a number of decisions establishing a violation of the appellants’ rights to a fair trial and dismissed a number of appeals as ill-founded in cases in which it found no such violation.
For the illustration purposes we present the following:
Constitutional Court of BiH has partially granted the appeal lodged by Mr. Goran Zubac from Trebinje in the part which relates to alleged violation of the right to presumption of innocence.
Constitutional Court of BiH found a violation of Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6 paragraph 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the procedure of establishing “criminal charges” in regards to statements of some officials on the appellant’s “guilt” and which as such, have presupposed the decision of the competent judicial authority.
Constitutional Court of BiH, while maintaining the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in regards to that issue, finds that the officials, when giving their statements, should have acted with particular caution when choosing words to describe appellant’s criminal liability. Considering the contents of their statements, the Constitutional Court finds that such statements have encouraged the public to believe that the appellant is guilty even before his guilt was proven which is in accordance with the law and that due to such statements there was a violation of the appellant’s right under Article 6 paragraph 2 of the European Convention.
Also, we would like to reiterate the problem of adoption of decisions with reasonable time-limit i.e the practice of the courts and administrative authorities, due to various reasons, in which they fail to take sufficient account of the standards under 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. Accordingly, the problem of adoption of decisions within reasonable time-limit is significantly present in the court case-law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a consequence, inter alia, a great number of appeals is lodged with the Constitutional Court of BiH in connection with the right to a fair trial in the part relating to adoption of decisions with reasonable time-limit.
In accordance with Article 16(4) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Court rejected a number of appeals lodged in an untimely fashion, after the expiration of the time-limit for submitting appeal or prematurely in cases in which it was established that the appellants failed to use all available legal remedies in the previous proceedings.
The Court adopted a number of appeals in which appeals were rejected as inadmissible which are manifestly prima facie ill-founded. The requests of appellants in cases in which the Court established so, were not justified, or the facts the appellants presented to the Court in those cases could not have in any manner justified the claim of the appellants that there is a violation of their rights protected by the Constitution or that the parties in the proceedings bear consequences of violation of rights protected by the Constitution.
In all cases in which the Court found there was a violation of the appellants’ right to a fair trial, the competent courts or administrative authorities were ordered complete the proceedings to urgently and inform the Constitutional Court of BiH, in line with Article 74(5) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of BiH, within three months from the date of submission of decision, on the measures taken to enforce the decisions.
All decisions adopted at the session shall be published on the webpage of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina within a time limit of one month, following the delivery to the appellants.
