Communicated on 8 September 2014
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 47666/13
Ž.B.
against Croatia
lodged on 16 July 2013
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Ms Z.B., is a Croatian national, who was born in 1981. She is represented before the Court by Ms I. Bojić, a lawyer practising in Zagreb.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant was victim of family violence by her husband B.B. for years.
On 29 January 2008 the S. Municipal State Attorney’s Office (Općinsko državno odvjetništvo u S.) indicted B.B. in the S. Municipal Court (Općinski sud u S.) on charges of family violence punishable under Article 215a of the Criminal Code. The charges related to several acts of physical and emotional ill-treatment against the applicant committed in the period between 2004 and 2007.
On 21 April 2009 the S. Municipal Court found B.B. guilty as charged and sentenced him to seven months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.
It appears that this judgment was quashed on appeal, and on 2 December 2010 the S. Municipal Court again sentenced B.B. on the same charges and imposed the same sentence on him.
On 14 October 2011 the S. County Court (Županijski sud u S.), acting as the court of appeal, quashed the S. Municipal Court judgement of 2 December 2010 and ordered a retrial, on the grounds that all relevant facts had not been sufficiently examined.
On 16 January 2013 the S. Municipal Court discontinued the proceedings on the grounds that the 2013 amendments to the Criminal Code abolished the offence of family violence under Article 215a, for which B.B. was charged with, which represented an absolute bar for further criminal proceedings against him.
The applicant appealed against this decision and on 28 February 2013 the S. County Court declared her appeal inadmissible on the grounds that she did not have a legal standing to challenge the decision on the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains, under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention, about the failure of the domestic authorities to effectively discharge their positive obligations in relation to the alleged acts of family violence against her.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Have the State authorities complied with their positive obligations under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention? In particular, have they provided a framework for an adequate protection against the acts of family violence?
2. Have the relevant authorities complied with their procedural obligation, under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention, related to the alleged acts of family violence against the applicant?
The Government are requested to submit copies of all relevant documents in the applicant’s case.
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