Communicated on 19 May 2015
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 18572/12
J. against Croatia
lodged on 8 February 2012
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant is a Croatian national, who was born in 1976. She is represented before the Court by Mr S. Šakić, lawyer practising in Zagreb.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On an unspecified date in 1996 the applicant complained to the competent authorities that she had been raped by T.B.
On 29 June 1996 an investigating judge of the competent County Court opened an investigation in respect of T.B. in connection with a suspicion of rape.
Following the investigation, the competent State Attorney’s Office indicted T.B. in the criminal court on charges of rape.
On 21 November 2000 T.B. was acquitted and upon the appeal of the State Attorney’s Office, the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske) quashed the judgment and remitted the case for re-examination.
In the resumed proceedings the criminal court acquitted T.B. on 13 February 2007, but upon the appeal of the State Attorney’s Office this judgment was quashed by the Supreme Court and a retrial was ordered.
On 22 September 2010 the criminal court found T.B. guilty on charges of rape against the applicant and sentenced him to ten months’ imprisonment. That court considered that the fact that fourteen years had passed after the commission of the offence, that period had to be taken as a mitigating factor for T.B.’s sentence.
According to the available information, the appeal proceedings are still pending.
Meanwhile, the applicant complained to the Supreme Court about the adverse effects of the inordinate length of the criminal proceedings on her private life and her position of a victim of rape.
On 25 November 2010 the Supreme Court declared the applicant’s complaint inadmissible on the grounds that she, as a victim who had not lodged a civil claim in the criminal proceedings, could not complain of the length of criminal proceedings. This decision was upheld on appeal by a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court on 20 April 2011, and by the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) on 8 December 2011.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains about the adverse effects of the ineffective criminal proceedings on her private life and her position of a victim of rape.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of the domestic authorities’ procedural obligation, under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention, concerning the applicant’s allegations of rape?
The Government are requested to submit two copies of the relevant documents concerning the applicant’s case.
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