HJPC: Solving Retroactive Application of Laws
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The HJPC considers that the decision “ensures a unified application of laws and equality of citizens before local courts in war-crimes cases”, the institution announced.
The Strasbourg Court accepted appellations filed by Maktouf and Damjanovic and determined that the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2003 was wrongly applied in their case.
The European Court said that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina violated their rights, considering the fact that shorter sentences could have been pronounced against them, had the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia from 1976 been used in their cases.
Cantonal, district and supreme courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina apply the Criminal Code of SFRJ, while the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina mostly applies the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The HJPC announced that it “identified the issue of non-harmonised court practices” some time ago and that it had tried to solve it through a structural dialogue on judiciary between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It organised meetings with presidents and judges of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, supreme entity courts and the Appellate Court of Brcko District.
“These meetings focused on the issue of harmonisation of court practices in war-crimes cases with the aim of ensuring legal safety and equality of all citizens before the law,” the announcement says.
