The Constitutional Court of BiH held today its regular 15th session of the Grand Chamber.
Constitutional Court, inter alia, decided 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. Within its decision-making, 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, inter alia, examined appeals of Messrs. Nermin Bjelak, Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic lodged against the ruling of the Court of BiH and decisions of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In accordance with Article 32(1) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court adopted decision on joining these appeals in one proceedings and adopted a single decision registered under case no. AP 66/15.
Namely, by its decisions, the Central Election Commission of BiH refused to verify candidate lists of the appellants as it established that the appellants, having declared themselves as Serbs during the ongoing election cycle (local elections 2012-2016 or General Elections 2010-2014), abused the right to declare affiliation with constituent peoples and usurped the right of relevant people to election of the candidates into the House of Peoples. Namely, these appellants have given different declaration in terms of national affiliation while registering themselves on the registration form for the general elections 2010, on the form for registration of the candidates for the local elections 2012 and the form for the General Elections for 2014.
Deciding on the individual appeals of the appellants against the decisions of the Central Elections Commission, the Court of BiH dismissed the appeals. Having examined the challenged decisions of the Central Election Commission, in the context of appellant’s claims, the Court of BiH concluded that the Central Election Commission has acted correctly when it refused to verify the candidate lists of the appellants for the election of the delegates into the House of Peoples from the Assembly of the Canton of Sarajevo from among the Serb peoples.
In the appeals lodged by the appellants, Messrs. Nermin Bjelak, Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic, inter alia, emphasize that the challenged decisions violated their rights under the Constitution of BiH and European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and indicate that it is absurd that the declaration in terms of national affiliation for indirect General Elections 2014 is compared to the declaration given on the candidate forms for the General Elections 2010 or local elections 2012, as in the opinion of the appellants, this involves second election cycle.
Having in mind the allegations from the appeal, the challenged decisions of the Central Election Commission i.e. the rulings of the Court of BiH and all relevant facts and allegations, the Constitutional Court of BiH concluded that the challenged decisions of the Central Election Commission and the Court of BiH are not in violation of the appellant’s rights in relation to the Constitution of BiH, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and International Charter on Civil and Political Rights and dismissed the appeals of Messrs. Nermin Bjelak, Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic lodged against the ruling of the Court of BiH and Decision of Central Election Commission of BiH as ill-founded i.e. rejected their appeals as inadmissible as they are ratione materiae incompatible with the Constitution of BIH.
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 to complete the proceedings urgently and inform the Constitutional Court of BiH, in line with Article 72(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.
In accordance with Article 18(3) 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 as the requests of appellants were not justified i.e. 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.
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.
Constitutional Court, inter alia, decided 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. Within its decision-making, 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, inter alia, examined appeals of Messrs. Nermin Bjelak, Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic lodged against the ruling of the Court of BiH and decisions of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In accordance with Article 32(1) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court adopted decision on joining these appeals in one proceedings and adopted a single decision registered under case no. AP 66/15.
Namely, by its decisions, the Central Election Commission of BiH refused to verify candidate lists of the appellants as it established that the appellants, having declared themselves as Serbs during the ongoing election cycle (local elections 2012-2016 or General Elections 2010-2014), abused the right to declare affiliation with constituent peoples and usurped the right of relevant people to election of the candidates into the House of Peoples. Namely, these appellants have given different declaration in terms of national affiliation while registering themselves on the registration form for the general elections 2010, on the form for registration of the candidates for the local elections 2012 and the form for the General Elections for 2014.
Deciding on the individual appeals of the appellants against the decisions of the Central Elections Commission, the Court of BiH dismissed the appeals. Having examined the challenged decisions of the Central Election Commission, in the context of appellant’s claims, the Court of BiH concluded that the Central Election Commission has acted correctly when it refused to verify the candidate lists of the appellants for the election of the delegates into the House of Peoples from the Assembly of the Canton of Sarajevo from among the Serb peoples.
In the appeals lodged by the appellants, Messrs. Nermin Bjelak, Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic, inter alia, emphasize that the challenged decisions violated their rights under the Constitution of BiH and European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and indicate that it is absurd that the declaration in terms of national affiliation for indirect General Elections 2014 is compared to the declaration given on the candidate forms for the General Elections 2010 or local elections 2012, as in the opinion of the appellants, this involves second election cycle.
Having in mind the allegations from the appeal, the challenged decisions of the Central Election Commission i.e. the rulings of the Court of BiH and all relevant facts and allegations, the Constitutional Court of BiH concluded that the challenged decisions of the Central Election Commission and the Court of BiH are not in violation of the appellant’s rights in relation to the Constitution of BiH, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and International Charter on Civil and Political Rights and dismissed the appeals of Messrs. Nermin Bjelak, Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic lodged against the ruling of the Court of BiH and Decision of Central Election Commission of BiH as ill-founded i.e. rejected their appeals as inadmissible as they are ratione materiae incompatible with the Constitution of BIH.
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 to complete the proceedings urgently and inform the Constitutional Court of BiH, in line with Article 72(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.
In accordance with Article 18(3) 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 as the requests of appellants were not justified i.e. 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.
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.
