MARJANOVIĆ v. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Inadmissible
George Nicolaou;Ineta Ziemele;Ledi Bianku;Nona Tsotsoria;Paul Mahoney;Zdravka Kalaydjieva
1. The applicant, Mr Andrija Marjanović, is a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was born in 1970. He was represented before the Court by Mr M. V. Radović and Mr A. Pašić, lawyers practising in Foča and Sarajevo, respectively. 2. The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“the Government”) were represented by their Deputy Agent, Ms Z. Ibrahimović. 3. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. 4. On 4 February 2005 the applicant killed his mother. 5. On 26 May 2005 the Zenica Cantonal Court found the applicant not guilty by reason of insanity (paranoid schizophrenia) and referred the case to the Kakanj Social Work Centre (“the Social Work Centre”). The judgment took effect on or about 30 June 2005 (the applicant has not indicated the exact date). 6. On 28 July 2005 the Kakanj Social Work Centre provisionally placed the applicant in Zenica Prison Forensic Psychiatric Annex (“the Psychiatric Annex”) as from 31 July 2005. 7. In his application to the Court, the applicant claimed that he was still detained in the Psychiatric Annex on the basis of the administrative decision, despite the fact that the social work centres did not have jurisdiction to order psychiatric detention. 8. The Government disputed the facts as submitted by the applicant as incomplete and misleading. They informed the Court of the following facts. 9. On 17 May 2010 the Social Work Centre initiated proceedings before the Zenica Municipal Court on the necessity of the applicant’s detention. 10. On 15 November 2010 the Zenica Municipal Court established that the applicant’s mental disorder warranted continued detention in the Psychiatric Annex, for a maximum period of one year. The court further held that the applicant would eventually be transferred to the new psychiatric clinic Podromanija in Sokolac, once it was ready and functional. 11. On 4 November 2011, 15 May and 14 November 2012, and 14 May 2013, respectively, the Zenica Municipal Court extended the applicant’s detention. The applicant did not appeal against any of these decisions. 12. The Government submitted a copy of the decision of 15 November 2010 as well as the copies of the subsequent decisions. 13. It would appear that the applicant is still detained in the Psychiatric Annex. 14. Under the Criminal Code 2003 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Krivični zakon Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine; Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nos. 36/03, 37/03, 21/04, 69/04, 18/05, 42/10 and 42/11), an offender who has been acquitted on the grounds of insanity can be placed in psychiatric detention only by the competent civil court if this is considered necessary for the protection of the offender and/or the public from serious harm. Any such acquittal is therefore reported to the competent social work centre which must initiate the appropriate procedure in which the competent civil court would decide whether to prolong the detention of any such mental health patient (Article 420 of the Criminal Code 2003 and Article 410 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2003; Zakon o krivičnom postupku Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine; Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nos. 35/03, 37/03, 56/03, 78/04, 28/05, 55/06, 27/07, 53/07, 9/09, 12/10 and 8/13).