Information Note on the Court’s case-law 15

February 2000

Majarič v. Slovenia - 28400/95

Judgment 8.2.2000 [Section I]

Article 6

Criminal proceedings

Article 6-1

Reasonable time

Length of criminal proceedings: violation

Facts : In December 1991 the applicant was charged with sexual assault of a minor and abduction of minors. Further charges of a similar nature were brought in July 1992 and October 1993 and in Ma rch 1995 the District Court decided to deal with all the charges in the same proceedings. In July 1997 it convicted the applicant on several counts and in February 1998 the High Court increased the sentence imposed. The applicant's constitutional complaint was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in June 1998 and his plea of nullity was rejected by the Supreme Court in September 1998. Following a further constitutional complaint, the Constitutional Court refused in December 1998 to remit the case for a new examination.

Law : Government's preliminary objection: The Government did not raise non-exhaustion when admissibility was being examined by the Commission and are therefore estopped from raising it before the Court.

Article 6 § 1: The relevant period began in June 1994 when Slovenia ratified the Convention and accepted the right of individual petition, although the Court can take into account the state of the proceedings at that time. The period ended in December 1998 and the proceedings therefore lasted ov er 4 years 5 months. The case had some complexity because of the additional charges being brought but this could not justify the length, and there is no indication that the applicant contributed to the length. As for the conduct of the judicial authorities , by June 1994 the case had been pending at first instance for almost 2 years 7 months;  the District Court took a procedural decision nine months after the Convention entered into force for Slovenia and started to deal with the case one year and 10 months later. These delays were mainly attributable to the conduct of the courts.

Conclusion : violation (unanimous).

Article 41: The Court awarded the applicant 300,000 Slovenian tolars in respect of non-pecuniary damages.

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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