The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 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 preceding proceedings.

Having deliberated on the admissibility and merits of the cases related to the right to have a decision within the reasonable time limit, the Court took a number of decisions wherein it did not find a violation and a number of decision where it found a violation of the appellants’ right to a fair trial or dismissed a certain number of appeals as ill-founded in cases in which it found no such violation.

For the illustration purposes, the Constitutional Court partially granted the appeal lodged by Mr. Amir Zukić against the ruling of the Cantonal Court of Sarajevo, of 30 March 2017, the ruling of the Municipal Court of Sarajevo of 15 March 2017, ruling of the Municipal Court of Sarajevo, of 24 February 2015 and ruling of the Municipal Court of Sarajevo, of 20 February 2017.

The Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal as ill-founded in the part related to the right under Article II(3)(d) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, right under Article 5(1)(c) and (3) and (4) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, right to a fair trial in relation to the immunity under Article II(3)(e)  of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6(1) the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, right under Article 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and right under Article II(4) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The Constitutional Court rejected as ill-founded the appeal lodged by Mr. Amir Zukić in relation to other standards under Article II(3)(e) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 6(1) and (3) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Article 7 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as being premature.

The Constitutional Court granted the appeal lodged by Mr. Amir Zukić in the part related to the right to respect for private and family life 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 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 finalize the proceedings and, pursuant to Article 72(5) of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to inform the Constitutional Court, 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.