Ustavni sud BiH i obustava odluka o povredi prava na suđenje u razumnom roku
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Deciding Suspension on Violation of the Right to Trial within a Reasonable Time

Author(s): Nikolina Bajić
Subject(s): Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Sociology of Law
Published by: Fondacija Centar za javno pravo
Keywords: Constitutional Court; Bosnia and Herzegovina; constitution; right to trial within a reasonable time; appeals; human rights;
Summary/Abstract: In 2018, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina received over 1,700 new cases, in which the appellants invoked a violation of the right to trial within a reasonable time. A review of statistics shows that the same court, in the period from January 2008 to February 2017, made a total of 1,447 decisions, in which it was established that domestic courts did not make a decision within a reasonable time. The Constitutional Court and the most important judicial bodies recognized this "hyper-production" of appeals (in which appellants complained of (alleged) violations of the right to trial within a reasonable time) as a systemic problem. In that sense, the only remedy available to potential victims was to make an appeal to the Constitutional Court. Decisions of this court in cases of violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time have, over the years, tensely moved in the direction of relativizing the appeal as an effective remedy. In November 2018, this court decided that a certain period will not decide on appeals that raise the question of the length of court proceedings that are ongoing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other words, every person within a particular group, in principle authorized to submit an individual appeal, can not enjoy the right to file an appeal for breach of the right to trial within a reasonable time. This practice represents a radical precedent in the practice of this court and after such a decision in the domestic legal system, there is no (effective) remedy for this violation of human rights. In this paper, I will, through the stages, present the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that have considered the violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time, with special emphasis on the last stage, which took place in November 2018. I will focus on analyzing the practice of this court. One part of this paper makes a brief reference to the right to trial within a reasonable time and the right to an effective remedy in the context of their legal foundation and practical manifestation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Apart from the questions considering the practical consequences of this precedent, I will also point to the state of legal insecurity and the urgent need for making concrete steps towards finding an effective solution to this legal issue.

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