Constitutional Court

KI130/19, Applicant: Fahri Mati, Constitutional review of Decision E.Rev.no.19/2019 of the Supreme Court, of 8 May 2019

KI130/19, Resolution on Inadmissibility of 27 November 2019, published on 23 March 2020

Keywords: resolution on inadmissibility, contentious proceedings, manifestly ill-founded

The subject matter was the constitutional review of the challenged decision of the Supreme Court, which allegedly violated the Applicant’s rights and freedoms guaranteed by Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] and Article 32 [Right to Legal Remedies] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) and Article 13 (Right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Applicant related the alleged violations to the instruction on the legal remedy of the Basic Court, which in its decision stated that the deadline for filing an appeal was 15 days. The Applicant filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals 14 days after the date of service of the decision of the Basic Court, but the Court of Appeals rejected that appeal as being out of time. In this respect, in the referral the Applicant stated that he did not have an effective legal remedy due to the error of the Basic Court.

The Court, taking into consideration the merits of the Applicant’s case and the decisions of the regular courts, concluded that the instruction on the legal remedy of the Basic Court concerned the issue of jurisdiction of the court and not the merits of the claim, which implies that the instruction on the legal remedy of the Basic Court could not directly influence, the reduction or negation of the Applicant’s rights from the statement of claim which he could have realised had the appeal been filed with the Court of Appeals within the legal deadline.

Consequently, the Court rejected the Applicant’s Referral as manifestly ill-founded on constitutional grounds in accordance with Rule 39 (2) of the Rules of Procedure.