4.  The applicant was born in 1971 and lives in Golubinci, Serbia. 5.  On 14 March 1988 the applicant brought a civil action against his then employer in the Zagreb Basic Court of Associated Labour (Osnovni sud udruženog rada u Zagrebu), seeking damages in connection with an employment-related accident. The case was later on transferred to the Zagreb Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Zagrebu). 6.  On 29 May 2006 the applicant lodged a request for the protection of the right to a hearing within a reasonable time with the Zagreb County Court (Županijski sud u Zagrebu) complaining about the length of the above civil proceedings. 7.  On 14 March 2007 the Zagreb Municipal Court orally pronounced its ruling as to the applicant’s civil claim and awarded him compensation for the employment-related accident. At this moment in time, however, the applicant did not receive a written copy of the judgment ( see paragraph 12 below). 8.  On 25 April 2007 the Zagreb County Court found a violation of the applicant’s right to a hearing within a reasonable time. It awarded him compensation in the amount of 6,500 Croatian kuna (HRK), and ordered the Zagreb Municipal Court to decide the case as quickly as possible but in any case within six months. 9.  On 21 May 2007 the applicant appealed against the Zagreb County Court decision, contesting the amount of compensation awarded, the six-month time-limit and the dismissal of his claim for the costs of proceedings. 10.  On 4 October 2007 the applicant’s appeal was forwarded to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske). 11.  On 11 January 2008 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint as he did not receive the Municipal Court decision within six months as ordered by the County Court. In a letter of 23 January 2008 the Constitutional Court notified the applicant that it was not competent to supervise the implementation of the higher court’s decisions ordering lower courts to decide a case within a certain time-limit. 12.  The written copy of the Zagreb Municipal Court’s judgment of 14 March 2007 (see paragraph 7 above) was served on the applicant’s counsel on 22 February 2008. In the meantime, on 14 January 2008 the defendant had lodged an appeal against the first instance judgment with the Zagreb County Court. 13.  On 30 June 2008 the Supreme Court accepted the applicant’s appeal of 21 May 2007 against the County Court’s decision of 25 April 2007, concerning the length of proceedings and awarded him an additional amount of HRK 6,500 in compensation. 14.  On 13 January 2009 the County Court partly upheld the first instance judgment of 14 March 2007.