Decisions published during March 2023

In March 2023, the Constitutional Court:

• reviewed 12 cases;
• rendered decisions for 11 cases;
• published 12 decisions;

On the website of the Court have been published: four (4) Judgments and eight (8) Resolutions on Inadmissibility.

Judgments
__________________________________________________________________________________________
1. KI36/22
Applicant: “Matkos Group” L.L.C.
Published on: 8 March 2023

The Court assessed the constitutionality of the Judgment [ARJ. no. 116/2021] of the Supreme Court of Kosovo of 28 October 2021, which granted the motion of two non-governmental organizations and issued a decision to postpone the execution of the decisions of the Ministry competent for the environment, namely the Applicant’s water and environmental permit, until the Basic Court renders a final decision on the case merits. The Court found that, in the present case, there has been a violation of the Applicant’s fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo in conjunction with Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights, as the Supreme Court has not fully and clearly examined the decisive facts and the legal requirements outlined in Article 22 of Law on Administrative Conflicts, which refer to the permission to postpone the execution of decisions, and consequently the Supreme Court made an erroneous interpretation and application of the law.
You can read the full text of the Judgment and the summary in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, and in English, by clicking here

2. KI185/21
Applicant: “CO COLINA” L.L.C.
Published on: 15 March 2023

The Court assessed the constitutionality of Law No. 06/L-155 on the Prohibition of Games or Chance and of the Judgment [ARJ. UZVP. no. 83/2021] of the Supreme Court of Kosovo of 7 September 2021, which resulted in the revocation of his business license before the expiry of its term and found a violation of (i) Article 46 [Protection of Property] of the Constitution in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (Protection of property) of the European Convention on Human Rights; as well as (ii) Article 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] of the Constitution in conjunction with Article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights, since the regular courts (i) failed to apply the constitutional guarantees in the assessment of the legality of the revocation of the Applicant’s valid license, namely the corresponding allegations for the violation of the right to property as guaranteed by the Constitution; and furthermore, (ii) failed to provide adequate justification for not referring the case to the Constitutional Court for the assessment of the constitutionality of the contested Law, despite Applicant’s continuous requests. Whereas, regarding the assessment of the constitutionality of the Law on the Prohibition of Games of Chance, the Court assessed that the Court cannot address the constitutionality of the Law concerned since in order to do so it is necessary, inter alia, for the Applicant to be directly affected by the Law concerned and there should be no intermediate act, i.e. enforcement measure by the public authority related to the Law concerned. However, there was an enforcement measure related to the Law concerned in the present case, namely the Tax Administration Notice, through which the Applicant’s license was revoked before its expiry which the Applicant disputed before the regular courts.
You can read the full text of the Judgment and the summary in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, and in English, by clicking here

3. KI129/21
Applicant: Velerda Sopi
Published on: 22 March 2023

The Court assessed the constitutionality of “actions and omissions” of the Basic Court of Gjilan, the Basic Prosecution Office of Gjilan, the Police Station in Graçanica and the Basic Prosecution Office of Prishtina related to the death of SM, as a result of the domestic violence she sustained by LS, and found a violation of her (i) right for life guaranteed by Article 25 [Right to Life] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and Article 2 (Right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights; as well as (ii) the obligations of the state authorities defined under Articles 18 (General obligations), 50 (Response, prevention and immediate protection) and 51 (Risk assessment and risk management) of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, respectively the Istanbul Convention, since the competent authorities, with regard to the domestic violence against the victim (i) failed to respond immediately; (ii) failed to conduct a genuine risk assessment, which must be autonomous, proactive and immediate; (iii) in the circumstances of the specific case, and taking into account that LS was previously convicted for the criminal offense of domestic violence, they were aware or should have been aware of the immediate and real risk to SM’s life; and (iv) failed to take preventive measures to protect or prevent SM’s deprivation from life.
You can read the full text of the Judgment and the summary in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, and in English, by clicking here

4. KI108/22
Applicant: “Matkos Group” L.L.C.
Published on: 27 March 2023

The Court assessed the constitutionality of Judgment [AC–I–19–0213] of the Appellate Panel of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on Privatization Agency of Kosovo Related Matters of 16 March 2022, finding that the Applicant was denied the guarantees embodied in Article 31 of the Constitution in conjunction with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, since in relation to the Applicant’s case, a public hearing was not held before the Specialized and Appellate Panels, despite the fact that the Appellate Panel did not deal with the “exclusively legal or highly technical issues”, based on which issues the “extraordinary circumstances” that would justify the lack of a hearing could have existed.
You can read the full text of the Judgment and the summary in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, and in English, by clicking here

Resolution on Inadmissibility
__________________________________________________________________________________________

I.
In five (5) of the Resolutions on Inadmissibility published by the Court, the latter found that the same are unfounded, based on paragraph (2) of Rule 39 (Admissibility criteria) of the Rules of Procedure because the allegations of the respective Applicants fall into the “fourth instance” category, since they reflect, inter alia, the allegations argued at the level of “legality” and not of the “constitutionality”, and/or the same are “ungrounded or unjustified”.

These Resolutions include the following cases:

1. KI10/23
Applicant: Besim Gashi
Published on: 14 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [Pml. nr. 12/2023] of 16 January 2023.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

2. KI185/22
Applicant: Salih Topalli
Published on: 22 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [ARJ nr.35/2022] of 4 August 2022.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

3. KI126/22
Applicants: Gëzim Bajrami
Published on: 22 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [Rev. nr. 116/2022] of 6 May 2022.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

4. KI189/22
Applicant: Xhelal Plakolli
Published on: 27 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [Pml.nr. 88/22] of 21 March 2022.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

5. KI65/22
Applicant: Association “Fitorja” L.L.C.
Published on: 27 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [ARJ.nr.134/2021] of 29 December 2021.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

II.
In two (2) of the Resolutions on Inadmissibility published by the Court, the latter found that the Referrals of the Applicants were submitted after the legal deadline of 4 (four) months, defined in Article 49 (Deadlines) of the Law on the Constitutional Court and paragraph (1)(c) of Rule 39 of the Rules of Procedure.

These Resolutions include the following cases:

1. KI68/22
Applicant: Shaban Gashi
Published on: 21 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [ARJ-UZVP. nr. 10/2020] of 14 January 2020.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

2. KI218/22
Applicant: Sadri Rexhepi
Published on: 21 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [Rev.nr.582/21] of 28 February 2022.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

III.
In one (1) Resolution on Inadmissibility published by the Court on 31 March 2023, the latter found that the Referral of the respective Applicant is inadmissible based on paragraph 7 of Article 113 [Jurisdiction and Authorized Parties] of the Constitution, Article 49 (Deadlines) of the Law on the Constitutional Court and paragraph (1)(c) and 3 (b) of Rule 39 of the Rules of Procedure, partly because it was not filed within the four (4) month deadline and partly ratione materiae falling outside the Court’s jurisdiction.

1. KI167/22
Applicant: Fatos Kakeli
Published on: 31 March 2023

Request for constitutional review of the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kosovo [Rev.nr. 373/2021] of 6 October 2021.
You can read the full text of the Resolution and its summary, in the two official languages of the Republic of Kosovo, by clicking here

Note:

This notification has been prepared by the Secretariat of the Court for informational purposes only. The full texts of the decisions have been served to all parties involved in the cases and will be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo within set deadlines.