ZAGREB, Feb 10 (Hina) - Of 44 member-countries of the Council of Europe, Croatia was last year 11th according to the number of suits filed against it by citizens before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and 16th per
number of rulings in favour of the plaintiffs.
ZAGREB, Feb 10 (Hina) - Of 44 member-countries of the Council of
Europe, Croatia was last year 11th according to the number of suits
filed against it by citizens before the European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg, and 16th per number of rulings in favour of
the plaintiffs. #L#
Last year Croatian citizens filed 757 lawsuits against the state.
The court ruled in favour of eight plaintiffs, say the court's
official records for 2002.
The multiple increase in the number of suits came about last spring
after the European Court of Human Rights accepted several suits by
citizens who complained about trials lasting for an unreasonable
amount of time, the unavailability of courts and the lack of
efficient legal means of protecting violated rights, says a
Croatian government representative at the Strasbourg court, Lidija
Lukina Karajkovic.
The inflow of lawsuits eased in the autumn, after the court
established that by amending its constitution and constitutional
law on the constitution Croatia had incorporated into its legal
system an efficient legal instrument to prevent lengthy trials. The
European court thus refused to accept several lawsuits.
The Croatian Constitutional Court last year received 453
complaints for lengthy proceedings. It solved 145, accepted seven
as justified and set fines between 4,500 and 8,00 kuna in four
cases.
(hina) lml