142nd session of the Grand Chamber

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has held today by electronic means, the 142nd ordinary session of the Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Of decisions it adopted today, the Constitutional Court has singled out the following:

AP 1478/20 – The Constitutional Court concluded that there has been the violation of the right to a fair trial when the impugned judgements have not been reasoned in the manner, which would remove any doubt concerning the appellant’s guilt. The impugned judgements failed to meet the basic requirement of criminal procedure that the prosecutor must prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. In particular, they were not in accordance with one of the fundamental rules of criminal procedure law, the rule in dubio pro reo.

AP 1689/20 – The Constitutional Court established that the appellant’s right to freedom of movement has been violated since the impugned Decision of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on restriction of movement and temporary residence of foreigners in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 16 April 2020 (the impugned Decision) does not meet the requirement of “lawfulness”. It does not meet this requirement as the legal possibility to pronounce the relevant measures restricting the appellants’ movement, i.e. the scope of such discretionary powers and manner of their use, is not set out clearly enough in the law and bylaw provisions to which the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina refers in the impugned Decision. The Constitutional Court further found as ill-founded that a part of appeals requesting the annulment of the impugned Decision. This is so as, given the undoubted public interest to introduce certain restrictions, such an annulment could result in negative consequences before the competent authorities are given the opportunity to consider the impugned measures in accordance with the present Decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

All decisions adopted at today’s session will be delivered to the appellants within one month and published at the earliest possible date on the website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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