The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held today its regular 51st session of the Grand Chamber.
Inter alia, the Constitutional Court rejected a number of appeals lodged in an untimely fashion, either after the expiration of time-limit for the submission of appeal or prematurely, in the cases in which it was established that the appellants failed to use all available legal remedies in the proceedings that preceded it.
Deciding on the appeals in regards to the decisions on admissibility and merits adopted within reasonable time-limit, the Constitutional Court dismissed a certain number of appeals as ill-founded in cases in which it found no such violation while adopting a number of decisions in which it established a violation of the appellants’ rights to a fair trial.
For the illustration purposes we note the following:
The Constitutional Court dismissed ill-founded the appeal of Mr. Mevlid Jasarevic against the judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina finding the appellant guilty of having committed the criminal offence of Terrorism sentencing him to an imprisonment for a term of 15 years including the time when the appellant was held in detention.
In his appeal, the appellant, inter alia, emphasized that the challenged decision is in violation of the right to a fair trial under Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6 of the European Convention. He stated that in the proceedings in question, the Court of BiH has misapplied both procedural and substantive law. He objected to the position of the Court concerning the legal qualification of the criminal offence he was convicted of, its premeditative nature and intent, and stated that his intent was not to deprive anyone of his/her life but rather that the wrong conclusion was made on the consequences of the criminal offence he was convicted of. In his opinion, through his actions he has committed the criminal offence of Endangering Internationally Protected Persons under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of BiH or rather criminal offence of Provoking General Danger under Article 323 of the Criminal Code of BiH but not criminal offence of Terrorism. In addition, appellant invokes the application of principle in dubio pro reo which, as he stated, the Court failed to consider when adopting the decision on the appellant’s guilt.
The Constitutional Court found no violation of the right to fair trial under Article II (3)(e) of the Constitution of BiH and Article 6 (1) and 3 (c) and (d) of the European Convention as the Court of BiH in the challenged judgment has given detailed reasoning as to the manner in which it made the connection of all presented evidence with the relevant legal provisions and based on the careful and conscientious evaluation of the evidence, reached a conclusion that the appellant has committed criminal offence he was found guilty of. Further, no guarantees under Article 6 (3)(c) and (d) of the European Convention were brought into question by the appellant’s allegations. In addition, the Constitutional Court concluded that there is no violation of the principle in dubio pro reo under Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of BiH and Article 6 paragraph 2 of the European Convention as the Court in this case did not act with a preconceived notion of the appellant’s guilt nor were the conditions met for introduction of the principle in dubio pro reo that the court in this criminal proceedings decides by a judgment in the manner which is more favourable for the appellant.
The Constitutional Court adopted a number of decisions rejecting the appeals as inadmissible and manifestly prima facie ill-founded. 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 was a violation of their rights protected by the Constitution or that the parties to the proceedings bear the consequences of the violation of rights protected by the Constitution.
In the cases in which the Court established that there was a violation of the appellants’ right to a fair trial, the competent courts or administrative authorities were ordered to complete the proceedings and to inform the Constitutional Court, in accordance with Article 72(5) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within a time-limit of three months from the date of delivery of the relevant decisions, on the measures taken to enforce the decisions.
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.
