Published on 4 December 2023

SECOND SECTION

Applications nos. 36578/22 and 38154/22 Jozo BAZINA against Croatia and Ivica MEDAK against Croatia lodged on 18 July 2022 and 2 August 2022 respectively communicated on 13 November 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

On 24 July 2009 a train travelling from Zagreb to Split derailed from the tracks, whereby six passengers were killed and many others injured.

Following an investigation, criminal proceedings were instituted against several persons. The domestic courts established the cause of the accident on the basis of the expert reports of the Ministry of the Interior’s forensics centre obtained during the pre-trial investigation and supplemented during the trial. The experts found that the accident had occurred due to the train tracks having been treated with a flame retardant shortly before the train passed, leading to the train being unable to break and therefore to “slip” from the tracks at a high speed. All the accused were acquitted of the charges save for the two applicants, who were found guilty of perpetrating the grave criminal offence against the general security out of unconscientious negligence (“ nesvjesni nehaj ”) and given prison sentences.

The applicants complain, relying on Article 6 of the Convention, about the inability to effectively challenge the Ministry of the Interior’s forensics centre’s expert reports as to the cause of the accident and about the domestic courts’ refusal to examine the numerous items of evidence proposed by the defence in order to establish both the cause of, and the applicants’ personal criminal liability for the accident.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

Did the applicants have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them, in accordance with Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention? In particular:

(a) did they have an opportunity to effectively challenge the findings of the Ministry of the Interior’s forensics centre’s experts as to the cause of the train accident (see Stoimenov v. the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia , no. 17995/02, §§ 38 and 41-42, 5 April 2007; Hodžić v. Croatia , no. 28932/14, §§ 68-75, 4 April 2019; and Kartoyev and Others v. Russia , nos. 9418/13 and 2 others, §§ 74-81, 19 October 2021)?

(b) did the domestic courts’ decisions not to examine the evidence proposed by the applicants in order to establish the cause of the accident and their personal criminal liability undermine the overall fairness of the proceedings (see Murtazaliyeva v. Russia [GC], no. 36658/05, §§ 139-168, 18 December 2018; and Abdullayev v. Azerbaijan , no. 6005/08, §§ 58-66, 7 March 2019)?

APPENDIX

No.

Application no.

Case name

Lodged on

Applicant Year of Birth Place of Residence Nationality

Represented by

1.

36578/22

Bazina v. Croatia

18/07/2022

Jozo Bazina 1951 Zagreb Croatian

Višnja DRENŠKI LASAN

2.

38154/22

Medak v. Croatia

02/08/2022

Ivica MEDAK 1958 Lekenik Croatian

Siniša ŠTIMAC