CASE OF JANKOVIĆ v. SERBIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Enforcement proceedings;Article 6-1 - Access to court);Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions)
Branko Lubarda;Georgios A. Serghides;Pere Pastor Vilanova
5. The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in Bela Crkva. 6. He was employed by “Betonjerka”- DP, a socially-owned company based in Bela Crkva (hereinafter “the debtor”). 7. On 20 May 2003 the Bela Crkva Municipal Court ordered the debtor to pay the applicant specified amounts on account of salary arrears and social insurance contributions, plus the costs of the civil proceedings. On the same day this judgment became final. 8. On 14 October 2003 upon the applicant’s request to that effect, the Bela Crkva Municipal Court ordered the enforcement of the said judgment and further ordered the debtor to pay the applicant the enforcement costs. 9. The Government in its observations maintained that the said judgment had been fully enforced by the domestic decisions of 2 December 2004, 4 November 2005 and 19 May 2006 respectively. The applicant did not contest this submission. 10. On 10 February 2009 the Bela Crkva Municipal Court ordered the debtor to pay the applicant other specified amounts on account of salary arrears and social insurance contributions. In addition the domestic court ordered each party to pay its own costs of the civil proceedings. This judgment became final on 18 February 2009. 11. On 30 April 2009 upon the applicant’s request to that effect, the Bela Crkva Municipal Court ordered the enforcement of the said judgment and further ordered the debtor to pay the applicant the enforcement costs. 12. The said decision remains unenforced to the present date. 13. On 12 May 2009 the Pančevo Commercial Court opened insolvency proceedings in respect of the debtor. 14. On 22 September 2009, upon a submission to that effect, the Pančevo Commercial Court recognized the applicant’s respective claims. 15. On 27 August 2012 the Pančevo Commercial Court terminated the insolvency proceedings against the debtor, having decided to continue with the insolvency action against the debtor’s estate. 16. The insolvency proceedings are still pending. 17. On 8 August 2013 the applicant lodged a constitutional appeal complaining firstly about the fairness of the insolvency proceedings. Further, he requested the Constitutional Court to adopt a decision obliging the respondent State to pay from its own funds his unpaid salaries. In particular, the applicant had referred only to the judgment which had been adopted in his favour on 10 February 2009. In so doing, the applicant also relied on the Court’s case-law related to the non-enforcement of domestic court decision rendered against socially-owned companies in Serbia. 18. On 31 March 2015 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal finding that it is not vested with the power of the insolvency court to enable the payments of the claims recognized in the insolvency proceedings.