Constitutional Court

KI98/17, Applicant: Sabit Veseli, Constitutional review of Judgment PML. No. 61/17 of the Supreme Court of Kosovo of 20 April 2017

 KI98/17, Resolution on Inadmissibility, adopted on 19 April 2018, published on 30 May 2018

Keywords: individual referral, criminal proceedings, right to a fair trial, manifestly ill-founded referral

The Applicant in the Court alleged that the regular courts violated his right guaranteed by Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution because they did not take into account the requests of the defense (lawyer), which requested the courts to re-qualify the criminal offense and to consider the client’s circumstances of the guilty plea for the criminal offense charged with. The Court considered that the Applicant built his case on a legal ground, referring to the erroneous application of the CCRK and the CPCRK, the allegations which pertained to the field of legality and as such in principle, are not under the jurisdiction of the Court. The Court, after analyzing the case as a whole, considered that the regular courts comprehensively and in detail reasoned the Applicant’s allegations as to the manner in which the guilty plea was accepted and the qualification of the criminal offense. Therefore, the Court concluded that the Applicant’s Referral did not meet the admissibility criteria established in the Rules of Procedure, because the Referral is manifestly ill-founded on constitutional basis, considering that the presented facts do not in any way justify the allegation of a violation of the constitutional rights and that the Applicant did not sufficiently substantiate  his allegation of constitutional violation. In sum, the Court concludes that the Referral is manifestly ill-founded on constitutional basis and, in accordance with Rule 36 (1) (d) and (2) (b) and (d) of the Rules of Procedure, is to be declared inadmissible.