Constitutional Court

KI72/17 Applicant: Ajkune Shala, Constitutional review of Judgment Rev. No. 15/2017 of the Supreme Court of Kosovo of 8 March 2017

KI72/17, Resolution on Inadmissibility of 22 February 2018, published on 23 May 2018

Keywords: individual referral, right to fair and impartial trial, claim for compensation, manifestly ill-founded

The Applicant’s husband, while performing his work obligations in a building of his employer, suffered bodily injuries from which he died. Applicant filed with the Basic Court a civil claim, requesting to oblige the employer “to pay to the claimant for the compensation of the material and non-material damage for their parent, namely the husband.”

The Basic Court (Judgment C. No. 2418/07) rejected the Applicant’s statement of claim, reasoning that “the discontinuance of statute-barring of criminal prosecution shall have as a consequence the discontinuance of statute-barring of the compensation claim”. The Applicant filed first with the Court of Appeals and later Supreme Court an appeal against that Judgment of the Basic Court, but rejected as ungrounded the Applicant’s appeal and upheld the Judgment of the Basic Court, considering that “the first instance court has just decided when it completely rejected as ungrounded the statement of claim of the claimants because of the statute of limitations for compensation 0f damage.”

The Applicant considers that the courts, by rejecting her statement of claim for compensation, violated her rights and freedoms guaranteed by Article 31 of the Constitution and Article 6 of ECHR.

The Court considers that the decisions of the regular courts thoroughly explain why the Applicant’s statement of claim for compensation for her husband’s death could not be admitted.

Thus, the Court considers that, taken as a whole, the regular courts’ proceedings and decisions were justified and fair for the purposes of Article 31 of the Constitution and Article 6. 1. of the Convention.

Therefore, the Applicants’ Referral is manifestly ill-founded on constitutional basis and was declared inadmissible.