(Article VI(3)(b) of the Constitution)
The appellate jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court is established by the constitutional provision according to which the Constitutional Court “shall have appellate jurisdiction over issues under this Constitution arising out of a judgment of any other court in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
This implies that the Constitutional Court is the last instance of subsidiary protection of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.
This provision is effected through the Rules of the Constitutional Court so the Court, if it finds an appeal well-founded, may quash the challenged decision and refer the case back to the court that adopted the judgment for renewed proceedings. The court whose decision has been quashed is obligated to take another decision in an expeditious manner and, in doing so, it shall be bound by the legal opinion of the Constitutional Court concerning the violation of the appellant’s rights and the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. Exceptionally, if the authority, the decision of which was quashed, takes a new decision without complying with the legal opinion of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court itself may decide on the merits of the case, if there is a decision of the authority that is not in violation of the constitutional rights, so that it will render such effective.
Appellants, who believe that the judgment or other decision of any court is in violation of their rights, shall have the right to lodge an appeal after all legal remedies have been exhausted while the Court shall also consider the effectiveness of possible legal remedies.
