COURSE FOR WRITING AN APPLICATION TO THE COURT IN STRASBOURG

Tirana, October 14, 2019

In the middle of October 2019 in Tirana (Albania) was started the platform of the HELP course “Human Rights Education for Legal Experts” on the criteria for admissibility of the application to the European Court of Human Rights organized by the Council of Europe. Lawyers from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania participated in this project, including a lawyers from Banja Luka (Republic of Srpska), Boris Stojanović, Slavko Jandrić and Jovana Pušac, PhD.

The project lasted from October to December 2019 under the leadership of moderators – former lawyers of the European Court of Human Rights, while the all-day training of attornies in Tirana was led by former judges of the European Court of Human Rights.

During the training, which was conducted in English, participants had the opportunity to analyze directly and in detail with the moderators and formers judges the elements of the applicant’s admissibility, such as examining the applicant’s victim status (an issue relevant at all stages of the proceedings), the procedural grounds for inadmissibility (non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, non-compliance with the six-month time-limit »after February 1st 2022 – four months«, as well as the rule on calculating that deadline), grounds for inadmissibility relating to the Court`s jurisdiction (incompatibility ratione personae, ratione loci, ratione temporis and ratione materiae) and finally, inadmissibility based on merits (manifestly ill-founded petition due to the so-called “Fourth instance”, clear or apparent absence of a violation, lack of evidence or confused or far-fetched complaints). Finally, participants had the opportunity to discuss with the judges about the Court’s decisions from their own experience, pointing to frequent examples of bad and unreasonable decisions by which the Court rejects applications without examining the elements of admissibility.

Participants who passed the final exam received certificates from the Council of Europe as a confirmation of successfully completed training.