issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 156 (2022)
12.05.2022
Judgments and decisions of 12 May 2022
The European Court of Human Rights has today given notification in writing of three Chamber
judgments1 and two decisions2:
the three judgments are summarised below;
The judgment in French below is indicated with an asterisk (*).
Dragan Kovačević v. Croatia (application no. 49281/15)
The applicant, Dragan Kovačević, is a Croatian national who was born in 1988 and lives in Slatina
(Croatia).
The case concerns the costs of proceedings before the Constitutional Court in 2014-15 in which the
applicant challenged the civil courts’ decisions to deprive him of his legal capacity. The Constitutional
Court quashed those decisions but dismissed his claim for reimbursement of his costs. The ruling on
costs was based on a provision of domestic law providing that each participant in proceedings before
the Constitutional Court has to bear their own costs unless the court decides otherwise.
The applicant complains that even though the Constitutional Court allowed his constitutional
complaint, it did not award him the costs of legal representation, alleging that this breached his right
of access to court under Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and his right to
peaceful enjoyment of his possessions under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention.
Violation of Article 6 § 1
Just satisfaction:
Pecuniary damage: 815 euros (EUR)
Non-pecuniary damage: EUR 3,000
Costs and expenses: EUR 2,500
X v. the Czech Republic (no. 64886/19)
The applicant, Ms X, is a Czech national who was born in 1980. She is currently living in the United
States of America.
The case essentially concerns the enforcement by the Czech courts of their decision to return the
applicant’s daughter to the USA under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction.
The applicant’s husband had initiated the proceedings under the Hague Convention because she had
not returned with him to the USA with their daughter after travelling to the Czech Republic in June
1
Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a judgment’s
delivery, any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a panel of five
judges considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and deliver a final
judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day. Under Article 28 of the Convention,
judgments delivered by a Committee are final.
Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.
Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution.
2
Inadmissibility and strike-out decisions are final.
