The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held today its regular 33rd session of the Grand Chamber.
The Constitutional Court of BiH considered, inter alia, a number of appeals filed for alleged violations of the appellants’ constitutional rights, which were committed by the ordinary courts.
For the illustration purposes, we present the following: the Constitutional Court decided, inter alia, on a number of claims on the alleged violations of the appellants’ right to a fair trial.
In the cases in which the Constitutional Court found violations of the appellants’ right to a fair trial due to the courts’ failure to take decisions within the reasonable time-limit (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), the relevant courts were ordered to conclude the proceedings promptly and to inform the Court about it within a time limit of three months.
We note that the courts and administrative authorities often do not take sufficiently into account the standards of the right to a fair trial under Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosna and Herzegovina and Article 6(1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The problem of failure to take decisions within the reasonable time limit was particularly present in the case-law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The consequence of this is the fact that the number of appeals have been addressed to the Constitutional Court of BiH, in conjunction with the right to a fair trial, particularly concerning the failure to take decisions within the reasonable time limit. The problems behind the violation 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 are wide insofar as their scope and complexity are concerned. Therefore, they request that appropriate measures of legislative and administrative nature be taken.
The Court rejected the appeals which were manifestly ill-founded and inadmissible. This concerns the cases wherein the Court found that the appellants’ claims were not justified, i.e. the facts which the appellants presented before the Court could in no way justify the appellants’ claims about the violation of their rights safeguarded by the Constitution or the parties to the proceedings did not bear consequences of the alleged violation of the constitutional rights.
All decisions taken at the session shall be delivered to the appellants within a time-limit of one month and posted on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
