The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held the 149th plenary session online on 18 October 2024.
The Constitutional Court adopted a number of decisions in which it found violations of the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, primarily before the courts in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In some cases, the proceedings have been pending for 17 and as many as 24 years. The Constitutional Court therefore recalls its previously established case law pointing to the existence of a systemic problem with regard to deciding cases within a reasonable time before the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a result of systemic flaws in the organisation of the judiciary and effective exercise of competence of different levels of public government in this field. The Constitutional Court expects from the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the executive and legislative branches to resolve this systemic problem.
The Constitutional Court also adopted a considerable number of decisions in which the appeals alleging violations of the right to a decision within a reasonable time in proceedings before the courts in the Republika Srpska were rejected on the grounds that the appellants failed to exhaust all the legal remedies that were available to them under the law.
In that regard, the Constitutional Court reiterates that the Law on the Protection of the Right to a Trial within a Reasonable Time, which stipulates legal means to protect that right before the courts in the Republika Srpska, entered into force in the Republika Srpska on 1 January 2021. The Constitutional Court also recalls that the referenced law constitutes an effective legal remedy that the appellants, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, are required to use prior to lodging an appeal with the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court therefore stresses that in the Republika Srpska it is necessary to first pursue this legal remedy and only then the parties can then lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court. Otherwise, any appeal where the available effective legal remedies have not been exhausted will be rejected.
All the decisions that were adopted at the plenary session will be communicated to the appellants within a period of one month and will be published as soon as possible on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
