Communicated on 11 September 2018

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 21864/14 Joao Miguel FERNANDES MARTINS against Portugal lodged on 5 March 2014

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant ’ s criminal conviction for drug consumption based on the Supreme Court judgment no. 8/2008 of 25 June 2008 harmonising the contradictory case-law ( Acórdão de Fixação de Jurisprudência ) following the decriminalisation of drug consumption brought by Article 28 of Law no. 30/2000, of 29 November 2000.

It also concerns the inadmissibility of the applicant ’ s appeal before the Constitutional Court due to its noncompliance with the procedural formalities stipulated in Article 75-A of Law no. 28/82 of 15 November 1982.

QUESTIONS tO THE PARTIES

1. Did the act for which the applicant was convicted constitute a criminal offence under national law at the time it was committed, as envisaged by Article 7 of the Convention? In particular:

Was the Supreme Court judgment no. 8/2008 of 25 June 2008, harmonising the contradictory case-law, compatible with Article 7 of the Convention? More specifically, was its interpretation consistent with the essence of the offence at issue and reasonably foreseeable; and was it in line with the wording of the relevant provisions of the criminal legislation in question as read in its context (see Vasiliauskas v. Lithuania [GC] , no. 35343/05, §§ 155-56, 161-62 and 184, 20 October 2015)?

2. Did the Constitutional Court ’ s interpretation of the formalities provided for in Article 75-A of Law no. 28/82 of 15 November 1982 violate the applicant ’ s right of access to court (see Zubac v. Croatia [GC], no. 40160/12, §§ 97-99, 5 April 2018) ?