Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 90
October 2006
Tomašić v. Croatia - 21753/02
Judgment 19.10.2006 [Section I]
Article 6
Civil proceedings
Article 6-1
Access to court
Compensation awarded by Constitutional Court significantly lower than amounts awarded by the European Court in similar cases: violation
Article 34
Victim
Compensation awarded by Constitutional Court significantly lower than amounts awarded by the European Court in similar cases: victim status granted
Facts: Proceedings for damages which the applicant and his wife had initiated against the State were stayed under the 1996 Amendment to the Civil Obligations Act. In 2004 the Constitutional Court found violations of the applicant’s rights to a hearing within a reasonable time and of access to a court. It ordered the first-instance court to give a decision in the applicant’s case within a year and awarded him 4,400 Croatian kunas (some 600 euros) in compensation.
Law: The redress afforded to the applicant at domestic level had been manifestly unreasonable, amounting to some 15 % of what the European Court generally awards in similar Croatian cases. Accordingly, the applicant could still claim to be a victim of a breach of his right of access to a court. The Court had frequently found violations of that right in cases similar to the present one.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
Article 41 – EUR 1,200 for non-pecuniary damage.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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