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
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy