PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE VAJIĆ

I have voted with the majority as to the violations of Article 5 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention in the present case. Unfortunately, I am unable to share its opinion as to the violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, namely that the criminal case against the applicant was not examined within a “reasonable time”.

The facts of the case are as follows:

The first-instance proceedings against Mr Ilijkov started on 4 October 1993 when he was arrested, or on 10 September 1993 or another date in 1993 (see paragraphs 9 and 111 of the judgment), and lasted until 31 January 1997 when he was convicted (paragraph 33).

The applicant appealed on 10 February 1997 and his conviction and sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court of Cassation on 18 March 1998 (paragraph 34). On 22 June 1998 the applicant lodged a petition for review (paragraph 37). By judgment of 22 March 1999 the Supreme Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant’s petition (paragraph 38).

Thus, the effective length of the criminal proceedings against the applicant amounted to not more than five years and three and a half months before three levels of jurisdiction (if the period of approximately three months for which the Government are not responsible is deducted, i.e. between the Supreme Court of Cassation’s decision of 18 March 1998 and 22 June 1998, when the applicant lodged his petition for review (paragraphs 34-38)).

In my opinion this indeed shows that – having regard to the criteria established in the Court’s case-law, in particular the complexity of the case and the fact that some delays were clearly not imputable to the authorities (paragraph 112) – the case against the applicant was examined within a “reasonable time” within the meaning of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

[1] 1. Note by the Registry . Protocol No. 11 came into force on 1 November 1998.