Constitutional Court

KI18/20, Applicant: Fatmir Hoti; Constitutional review of Judgment PML. no. 316/2019 of the Supreme Court, of 22 November 2019

KI18/20 Resolution on Inadmissibility, of 17 December 2019, published on 31 December 2020

Keywords: individual referral, criminal procedure, right to fair trial, ratione materiae, inadmissible referral

The Applicant challenged before the Constitutional Court the constitutionality of Judgment PML no. 316/2019 of the Supreme Court, of 22 November 2019, alleging a violation of his rights guaranteed by Articles 22[Direct Applicability of International Agreements and Instruments], 31[Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] and 53 [Interpretation of Human Rights Provisions] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and Article 6 [Right to a fair trial] of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. On the basis of the case file, the Court noted that the essence of the Applicant’s allegations for violation of his rights guaranteed by the Constitution fell within the scope of Article 31 of the Constitution and Article 6.1 of the ECHR, respectively the alleged violation related to objective impartiality of the trial.
The Court, having assessed the case in its entirety, came to the conclusion that Article 31 of the Constitution, in the light of the interpretation of Article 6 of the Convention, does not apply to the proceedings for the reopening of a criminal case, because a person whose sentence has become final and who applies for having his case reopened during this procedure has not been charged with a criminal offence within the meaning of Article 6 of the Convention. For this reason, the Court considered that the Applicant’s allegations regarding the rejection by the regular courts of his request for extraordinary mitigation of sentence are incompatible ratione materiae with the Constitution, because Article 31 of the Constitution, in conjunction with Article 6 of the Convention do not apply.
Consequently, the Court concludes that the Applicant’s Referral, in accordance with Rule 39 (3) (b) of the Rules of Procedure is inadmissible.