Published on 23 June 2025
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 29645/24
Lubomír KRKOŠKA
against the Czech Republic
lodged on 2 October 2024
communicated on 2 June 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
In the criminal proceedings against him the applicant was found guilty of embezzlement. His application concerns in particular the failure of the Supreme Court to communicate to him written observations submitted, by a law office acting as a civil party in the criminal proceedings, in reaction to his appeal on points of law, as a result of which he was unable to comment on them.
By a decision no. III. ÚS 1346/23 of 29 May 2024, served on the applicant’s lawyer on 6 June 2024, his constitutional appeal was dismissed. The Constitutional Court considered that, although the other parties’ submissions should in principle be sent to the appellant for comments, the observations submitted by the civil party in the present case did not contain any essential arguments upon which the Supreme Court would have relied in its decision.
Under Article 6 of the Convention the applicant complains about the breach of the principle of adversariality by the Supreme Court, on account of the latter’s failure to enable him to react to the submissions of the civil party.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
Did the applicant have a fair hearing before the Supreme Court, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, was the fairness of those proceedings undermined by the non-communication to the applicant of observations submitted by the law office acting as the civil party in the original criminal proceedings against the applicant and the consequent lack of opportunity for him to comment on them (see, mutatis mutandis, Hubka v. the Czech Republic, no. 500/06, 3 February 2011, and Janáček v. the Czech Republic, § 53, no. 9634/17, 2 February 2023)?