According to the judgements delivered by the Strasbourg-based court today, Zahirovic is to be given EUR 1,500 as non-pecuniary damage and EUR 3,073 for costs and expenses and Erkapic is to be compensated with EUR 1,500 as non-pecuniary damage and EUR 2,500 for costs and expenses.
Zahirovic, 38, who was convicted in 2009 of attempting to murder three people in 2003 and given eight years, "complained about the unfairness of the criminal proceedings against him."
"He alleged in particular that the (Croatian) Supreme Court had failed both to communicate to him an opinion submitted by the State Attorney’s Office – thus breaching the principle of equality of arms – and to invite him to attend the public hearing on his appeal," the ECHR reported in its press release.
His lawyer Visnja Drenski-Lasan today expressed satisfaction with the Strasbourg court's ruling and emphasised that the European court had established that Croatia had breached defendants' rights to be provided with opinions of the prosecutorial authorities about the defence teams' appeals or to be present at hearings. In that context she warned that it was common practice for the Supreme Court not to call defendants behind bars to attend appeal hearings.
As for the applicant, Mario Erkapic, 46, the press release reads that Erkapic’s complaint was related to the unfairness of criminal proceedings brought against him for heroin trafficking in Zagreb. "He notably alleged that his conviction in April 2005 of conspiracy to supply heroin had to a decisive extent, been based on oral statements made by his co-accused, heroin addicts going through withdrawal, who had alleged that they had been ill-treated by the police during their questioning about the trafficking ring," the European court reported.
Erkapic, who was sentenced to eight years, "relied on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights".