Two Thematic Summaries of the Constitutional Court’s case law are published

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo has published two (2) Thematic Summaries of its case law. These Thematic Summaries mark the beginning of a series of publications whereby the Court aims to provide applicants and especially the legal community with a summarized source of its case law, which can also facilitate the process of preparing Referrals submitted to the Court.

The publication of the Thematic Summaries has begun in relation to the right to a fair and impartial trial, as guaranteed by Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo in conjunction with Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Each Thematic Summary published by the Court in the future will address specific aspects of the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The Thematic Summaries published today relate to (i) the right of access to court; and (ii) the right to a trial within a reasonable time, as integral parts of the right to a fair and impartial trial.

These two Thematic Summaries will elaborate on (i) the criteria and principles established in the case law of the Constitutional Court regarding selected aspects of the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights; (ii) concrete examples illustrating in which cases the right to trial within a reasonable time and the right of access to court may be violated, respectively; (iii) some specific decisions in which the Court has developed, through its case law, the applicable principles and criteria, including those deriving from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; and (iv) a list of all the decisions of the Court being relevant to the specific aspect of the right.

It should be noted that these Thematic Summaries are of an informative nature and any elaboration of references therein should be understood and interpreted in the context of the factual and legal circumstances of the respective decided case. Furthermore, the content of these Thematic Summaries is not exhaustive and will be subject to continuous updating. They will gradually expand to include the elaboration of the case law of the Court related to other fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution beyond those guaranteed by Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo in conjunction with Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Moreover, regarding those matters which have not yet been addressed by the Court and consequently its case law is not consolidated, legal practitioners and readers may refer themselves to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the relevant guides and documents published on its website.

To read the Thematic Summaries click here