CASE OF MARČAN v. CROATIA
No violation of Article 6+6-3-c - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Criminal proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing) (Article 6 - Right to a fair trial;Article 6-3-c - Defence in person);No violation of Article 6+6-3-d - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Criminal proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing) (Article 6 - Right to a fair trial;Article 6-3-d - Examination of witnesses)
Erik Møse;Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre;Julia Laffranque;Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Ksenija Turković
5. The applicant was born in 1967 and lives in Rijeka. He is a lawyer by profession. 6. On 7 July 2010 while driving his car near Vrogorac, Croatia, the applicant was stopped by a police officer alleging that he had dangerously overtaken another car and that he had inappropriate tyres on his car. The police officer drew up a report on the incident. 7. On 6 October 2010 the applicant received a penalty notice (obvezni prekršajni nalog) dated 12 July 2010 and issued by the Dubrovnik-Neretvanska Police Department (Policijska uprava Dubrovačko-neretvanska; hereinafter: “the police”) which stated that he had committed the minor offences of dangerously overtaking another car under section 12 of the Road Traffic Safety Act, and driving a car with inappropriate tyres under section 236 of the same Act, fining him with 1,500 Croatian kunas (HRK). The statement of facts, which was printed on a form, stated that the offence had been established by the personal observations of a police officer, who had submitted a report on it. 8. On 7 October 2010 the applicant lodged a request for judicial review, challenging the statement that he had committed the offences and asking to be heard in court. The summary minor-offence proceedings were opened in the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court (Prekršajni sud u Metkoviću, Stalna služba u Vrgorcu). 9. The Vrgorac Minor Offences Court summoned the applicant for questioning on 23 February and 30 March 2011. The applicant did not appear for questioning, excusing his absence on account of professional commitments. He asked to be questioned by the Rijeka Minor Offences Court (Prekršajni sud u Rijeci) since he lived within its territorial jurisdiction. 10. On 3 May 2011 the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court forwarded the entire case file to the Rijeka Minor Offences Court and asked it to question the applicant, thereby also providing the applicant access to the case file. 11. On 17 October 2011 a judge of the Rijeka Minor Offences Court questioned the applicant. The applicant maintained his objection to the penalty notice, arguing that he had not overtaken a car at the time when he had been stopped by the police. He also contended that he had had factory tyres on his car and promised to submit a copy of the relevant documents to support that. He explained that he had no other evidence to put forward. 12. As the applicant failed to submit the documents concerning the tyres on his car within the relevant time-limit, on 28 October 2011 the Rijeka Minor Offences Court returned the case file to the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court. 13. On 21 November 2011 the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court found the applicant guilty of the charges of dangerously overtaking another car and driving a car with inappropriate tyres. The applicant was cautioned, fined with HRK 500 and ordered to pay HRK 100 in court fees. When convicting the applicant the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court relied on the police officer’s report of 7 July 2010 (see paragraph 6 above), holding that the applicant’s defence had not cast any doubt on the findings of the report. 14. On 2 March 2012 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske). He argued that he had never seen the police report on which the verdict was based and that he had had no opportunity to challenge the accusations contained in it. He also complained that the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court had relied solely on the report, without holding a hearing at which he could cross-examine the police officer who had drafted it. 15. On 2 May 2012 the Constitutional Court declared the applicant’s constitutional complaint inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded. The Constitutional Court held: “In his constitutional complaint, the appellant was unable to show that the [Vrgorac Minor Offences Court] in the conduct of the proceedings or in the pronouncement of the judgment had acted contrary to the constitutional provisions concerning human rights and fundamental freedoms or had arbitrarily interpreted the relevant statutory provisions. The Constitutional Court therefore finds that the present case does not raise an issue in respect of the complainant’s constitutional rights. Thus, there is no constitutional law issue in the case for the Constitutional Court to decide on. ...” 16. The decision of the Constitutional Court was served on the applicant on 18 May 2012. 17. On 20 September 2012 the Vrgorac Minor Offences Court forwarded the judgment to the Rijeka Revenue Service (Porezna uprava u Rijeci) requesting that the fine be enforced. The enforcement proceedings are still pending.