The Ombudsman considered the case of a complainant who had turned to him due to the lengthiness of a misdemeanour proceedings at Celje Local Court. In this matter, the Local Court did not serve on the complainant the appeal decision of the Higher Court, issued in June 2022, until April 2023, which caused concerns about the violation of the right to trial without undue delay.

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At the court, the Ombudsman tried to ascertain the state of the discussed matter and reasons for the delay indicated in the proceedings. According to the statements of the complainant, a several month-long hiatus in proceedings supposedly occurred after the annulment of the first-instance judgement on the side of the Celje Higher Court and the remittance of the case for reconsideration.

The Local Court acknowledged the delay in serving the appeal court decision. It explained that even prior to the Ombudsman’s inquiry, the President of the Higher Court had ordered an overview of the operation in this case, within which it was discovered that the case had not been not handled without undue delay, hence he issued the order for priority adjudication of the case. The monitoring of the implementation of this order was assumed by the President of the Celje Local Court. Since the court had informed the Ombudsman about the scheduled hearing, the Ombudsman expressed his expectation that the court will in the future handle the complainant’s case fluently and concisely. The Ombudsman also informed the complainant about the possibility of filing a request for supervision if she feels that the court is not deciding her case without undue delay.

Based on the information received, the Ombudsman found that the complaint was justified. This case emphasises the importance of the right to trial without undue delay and the significance of an appropriate response of court bodies in the case of thus detected delays. 15.5-10/2023