CENTRE FOR DEMOCRACY SLAMS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT FOR VIOLATING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

ZAGREB, Jan 7 (Hina) - A Split-based non-government organisation, the Centre for Democratic Development (CERD), has requested parliamentary committees to interpret a provision on the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court, which has declared itself incompetent to decide about verdicts concerning repeated court proceedings. #L# The CERD claims that by declaring itself incompetent to protect tenancy right holders who were forcibly and illegally stripped of their rights was yet another violation of their human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. Officials at the Constitutional Court told Hina that the authentic interpretation of the Court's regulation on the Constitutional Court was possible, however, it had to be adopted in procedure as envisaged for the adoption of the Constitution, i.e. in three stages, to be completed with the support of a two-thirds parliamentary majority. The practice followed by the Constitutional Court with regard to complaints requesting renewed proceedings is in line with the practice of the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, the officials said. The CERD claims that such practice of the Constitutional Court affects many citizens of Serb nationality, as well as the families of former JNA (former Yugoslav People's Army) employees who lost their tenancy rights based on court rulings because they did not occupy the flats over which they had tenancy rights for more than six months. The request for the interpretation of the provision on the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court and the question which court is competent to deal with the protection of constitutional rights have been forwarded to all party benches, the justice minister, the OSCE and the European Union, the CERD stated. (hina) rml sb