Constitutional Court

KI35/20, Applicant: Ðeljalj Kazagić, Constitutional review of Decision  Pzd. No. 133/2019, of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo of 18 November 2019

KI35/20, Resolution on inadmissibility, 22 July 2020, published on 4 August 2020

Keywords: individual referral, repetition of criminal proceedings, equality before the law, right to a fair trial, judicial protection of rights, manifestly ill-founded referral, inadmissible referral.

The Applicant submitted the Referral to the Constitutional Court for the fifth time. In the last Referral KI35/20, the Applicant challenged the constitutionality of Decision Pzd. No. 133/2019, of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo, of 18 November 2019, alleging a violation of his rights guaranteed by Articles: 21 [General Principles], 24.1 [Equality Before the Law], 31.2 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] and 33.4 [The Principle of Legality and Proportionality in Criminal Cases], 54 [Judicial Protection of Rights], and 55.5 [Limitations on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

After having considered the Applicant’s Referral in entirety, the Court, regarding the allegations of violation of the rights guaranteed by Article 31 of the Constitution, found that his Referral should be declared inadmissible as incompatible ratione materiae with the Constitution, because Article 31 of the Constitution in the light of interpretation of Article 6 of the Convention on Human Rights is not applicable in situations where the Applicants’ requests for a repetition or reopening of a trial concluded by a final decision have been rejected by the regular courts. As to the other allegations of violation of Articles 21.4, 24.1, 33.4, 54 and 55.5 of the Constitution, the Court declared his Referral manifestly ill-founded, as the Applicant had only mentioned the Articles in question without further elaborating on how their violation occurred.

Therefore, the Court, based on the above, concluded that the Applicant’s Referral, regarding: i. Allegations of a violation of Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution are incompatible ratione materiae with the Constitution, and ii. allegations of violation of Articles 21.4, 24.1, 33.4, 54 and 55.5 of the Constitution, on constitutional basis, the Referral must be declared manifestly ill-founded in accordance with  Rule 39 (2) of the Rules of Procedure.