Communicated on 3 July 2014
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 39701/14
T.G.
against Croatia
lodged on 18 May 2014
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant is a Croatian national, who was born in 1974. He is represented before the Court by Mr Z. Stanković, a lawyer practising in Sisak.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
In February 2011 the Ministry of Health (Ministartsvo zdravstva) issued a certificate attesting that the applicant was healthy and thus allowed to carry firearms.
On 18 August 2011 the applicant was summoned to the police station to give a statement concerning the decision to revoke him firearms licence in connection with a suspicion that he had drinking problem. The applicant denied any alcohol abuse and stated that he had been hunter for several years and that, if necessary, he could undergo any test concerning his health condition and the alleged drinking problem.
On 23 August 2011 the applicant made the same objections through a lawyer.
On 23 August 2011 the police revoked the applicant’s firearms licence and ordered him to hand over his guns on the grounds that the operative police inspection showed that the applicant had had problem of alcohol abuse.
The applicant challenged this decision before the Ministry of the Interior (Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova Republike Hrvatske) arguing that he had been falsely accused by some neighbours and that there had been no evidence of his alleged drinking problem.
On 12 December 2011 the Ministry of the Interior dismissed the applicant’s complaints on the grounds that undisclosed documents from the case file suggested that the applicant had a problem of alcohol abuse.
On 6 February 2012 the applicant lodged an administrative action in the Administrative Court (Upravni sud Republike Hrvatske) challenging the decisions on the revocation of his firearms licence.
He also requested the police to disclose the report containing the allegations against him. On 1 March 2012 the applicant received a reply from the police that the report could not be disclosed as it was confidential.
Meanwhile the applicant obtained a medical report indicating that he had no problem of alcohol abuse.
During the proceedings before the Administrative Court the applicant complained that it was not clear on which concrete evidence his firearms licence had been revoked.
The trial panel of the Administrative Court, in the absence of the parties, examined the police report at issue and on 23 May 2012 upheld the decisions of the lower bodies. It held that the report suggested that the applicant had a problem of alcohol abuse and that therefore his firearms licence should be revoked.
The applicant challenged this decision before the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske), complaining that he had been denied access to the evidence containing allegations against him and that therefore he had been left without any possibility to challenge that allegations.
On 6 February 2014 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint as ill-founded. The decision of the Constitutional Court was served on the applicant’s representative on 18 February 2014.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains, under Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention, that his firearms licence was revoked based on a police report which was never disclosed to him or his lawyer.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of his civil rights and obligations, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, was the principle of equality of arms and adversariality respected as regards the revocation of the applicant’s firearms licence based on the confidential police report?
2. Has there been an interference with the applicant’s right to respect for his private life concerning the revocation of his firearms licence, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention?
If so, was that interference in accordance with the law and necessary in terms of Article 8 § 2?
The Government are requested to submit two copies of the relevant documents in the applicant’s case.
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