The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held its 87th ordinary session of the Grand Chamber today, April 24, 2019.
Out of the decisions adopted today, the Constitutional Court highlights the following one.
AP-1854/17 - in this decision, the Constitutional Court found a violation of the appellant’s right under Article II (3) (f) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the European Convention”) and Article II (3) (e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6 (1) of the European Convention, in a situation where the ordinary courts failed to consider the defendant’s statement in the light of the criteria that had to be considered in order to strike a balance between the appellant’s right to the protection of reputation and the defendants’ right to freedom of expression within the meaning of Article 10 of the European Convention. Furthermore, the aforementioned violation also exists because the ordinary courts, in decision-making, disregarded the quantity and content of the articles published on the front page of the first-defendant’s newspaper in the period between 1 and 9 July 2008, when serious allegations were made on the account of the appellant’s employees and the appellant himself, by putting him in the context of the events referred to in the relevant newspaper articles, without any reservations made by the defendants and without respect for the presumption of innocence and without providing the possibility for the appellant to express his position in the disputed newspaper texts. In the opinion of the Constitutional Court, the statement complained of does have a defamatory meaning and is tending to discredit the appellant and his employees and was not conveyed for the reasons prescribed by Article 10 of the European Convention. In addition, it was established that the defendants were not acting bona fide, as required by responsible investigative journalism.
All decisions taken at the session are to be delivered to the appellants within one month time-limit and posted on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as possible.
