The European Court of Human Rights has determined that the Court of Appeal’s continued failure to act on decisions of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro has led to a violation of the European Convention, according to the court’s latest ruling, “Vujović and Lipa doo v. Montenegro”, as announced by the Constitutional Court.
“The verdict states that the decisions of the Court of Appeal, which confirmed the decision of the Commercial Court to open bankruptcy for the company ‘Lipa doo Cetinje’, were insufficiently reasoned and arbitrary. Therefore, the Constitutional Court has repeatedly overturned them, with binding orders on how to remedy the violation of rights,” the statement reads.
Despite these orders, they add, the Court of Appeals has failed to act on the Constitutional Court’s annulment decisions four times, “contrary to the legal obligation that the positions of the highest constitutional court are binding.”
“The Court found no reason to depart from the conclusions of the Constitutional Court that the decisions of the Court of Appeal were insufficiently reasoned and arbitrary. The total duration of the proceedings was largely caused by the fact that the Court of Appeal failed to act on the decisions of the Constitutional Court on four occasions, contrary to the law. Only after the fifth consideration of the case did the Court of Appeal finally act on the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but most of the assets of the company ‘Lipa’ had been sold by then,” the decision of the European Court of Human Rights states, as stated by the Constitutional Court.
It is precisely this, repeated failure of the Court of Appeal, the Strasbourg court concluded, as they added in the statement, that largely led to the excessive length of the proceedings, all of which resulted in a violation of the right to a fair trial.
The European Court awarded the applicants 4.680 euros in compensation for non-pecuniary damage and 9.200 euros in costs of the proceedings.
“In the judgment ‘Dašić v. Montenegro’, the European Court found a violation of the right to liberty and security, because the applicant’s detention lasted longer than the legally prescribed 72 hours. The Constitutional Court has in the meantime issued a large number of decisions in which it found a violation of the right to liberty and security, in which it examined the legality of the deprivation of liberty,” the statement reads.
The Constitutional Court reminds that everyone is obliged to respect its decisions, and that the positions on certain issues expressed in decisions are also binding on state bodies. “By disrespecting the decisions of the Constitutional Court, not only is the rule of law undermined, but the state is also exposed to responsibility before international courts,” they said.
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