Constitutional Court

KI241 / 19, Applicant: Sali Krasniqi, Constitutional review of  Decision AC-I-19-0158-A0018 of the Appellate Panel of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on  Privatization Agency of Kosovo Related Matters, of 17 October 2019

KI241 /19, Resolution on Inadmissibility of 15 April 2020, published on 14 May 2020

Keywords: individual referral, out of time, manifestly ill founded, resolution on inadmissibility

Based on the case file, it results that the Referral relates to a dispute over some land parcels, which the Applicant claims to have purchased from B. T. LJ in 1974, on the basis of an oral contract. As a result, even though the Applicant claims to have fulfilled the contractual obligation to the seller, the  right of ownership over the property in question was never transferred to the Applicant. In 1982 the parcels in question were expropriated on the basis of a decision by the  Municipal Assembly of Klina (from the seller B.LJ.) and became the ownership of the two socially-owned enterprises.

In this regard, the Applicant filed a claim with the Municipal Court in Klina against the respondent SOE “Kosova” in Vushtrri-OBPB “Drini i Bardhë” in Volujakë (Klina), in whereby  he requested the determination of property rights. The Applicant filed a claim also  before the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on Privatization Agency of Kosovo Related Matters (hereinafter: SCSC) where he sought  “to established that he is the owner of parcels no. 221/3, 213/3 and 219/5.“

The procedure continued initially  before the Specialized Panel of the SCSC and afterwards before the Appellate Panel of the SCSC, which rejected the Applicant’s statement of claim. In this regard, the Applicant alleges that these decisions violate the rights and freedoms guaranteed by Article 24 [Equality before the Law] and Article 31 [Right to  Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as Article 6 (Right to a fair trial), and Article 1 of Protocol 1 (Protection of Property) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Taking into consideration the allegations and the circumstances of the Referral, the Court noted that the Applicant’s Referral, whereby he challenges  the decision AC-I-13-0019-A0018 of the Appellate Panel of the SCSC, dated 15 August 2019, was filed out of time, because upon the receipt of  the decision, he did not submit a Referral to the Constitutional Court within the  prescribed deadline, instead he submitted a request for revision which is not provided by law as a legal remedy. Therefore, the Court  rejected this part of the Applicant’s Referral  because it was out of time.

The Court has also noted that the  Applicant  in his Referral had  raised a claim for compensation before  the Court, however, the Court found that the Applicant had failed to file the claim before the regular courts, hence the regular courts had not dealt with its merits. Therefore, the Court  rejected this claim of the Applicant as manifestly ill founded.