Communicated on 23 October 2017

SECOND SECTION

Application no 38924/13 Hasan BUCI against Albania lodged on 15 April 2013

SUBJECT MATTER OF the CASE

The application concerns the applicant ’ s conviction for premeditated murder and unlawful possession of weapons and sentence to 18 years ’ imprisonment. The criminal proceedings were held in absentia before the domestic courts. The applicant took cognisance of the proceedings against him on 27 March 2010 when he was arrested in Athens. Following the arrest, the applicant submitted a request for leave to appeal out of time, which was granted by the Mat District Court in 2011, but rejected by the Tirana Court of Appeal in 2011, and finally by the Supreme Court on 8 March 2012 because his conviction was res judicata . On 19 December 2012, the Constitutional Court rejected the applicant ’ s constitutional appeal for being lodged out of time, namely more than 2 years after the applicant took cognisance of the proceedings against him.

The applicant complains of a violation of his rights under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention given that the proceedings against him were held in his absence and that he was not given the opportunity to have a lawyer of his own choosing.

QUESTIONS

1. Did the applicant have at his disposal an effective domestic remedy for his Convention complaints, as required by Article 13? In particular, was the request for leave to appeal out of time under Article 147 § 2 of the Albanian Criminal Procedure Code, an effective remedy in the applicant ’ s case?

2. Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against him, in accordance with Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention? In particular, having regard to the fact that the applicant was tried in absentia and that he was refused a rehearing, were the proceedings compatible with Article 6 of the Convention (see in this connection, Sejdovic v. Italy [GC], no. 56581/00, ECHR 2006-...; Izet Haxhia v. Albania , no. 34783/06 , § 60, 5 November 2013, Shkalla v. Albania , no. 26866/05, 10 May 2011)?