The Constitutional Court has awarded compensation due to the prolonged duration of the proceedings before the Zagreb court

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia has upheld the constitutional complaint of Ante Samardžić from Zagreb due to the violation of the constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time and awarded him appropriate compensation of 1,020.00 euros. Decision number U-IIIA-2027/2026 was passed unanimously at the session of the Second Panel for Deciding on Constitutional Complaints on July 16, 2026, and was published in the Official Gazette (Narodne novine) number 105/2026 on September 18, 2026. By the same decision, the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb was ordered to render a decision in case number Povrv-2172/2024 within the shortest possible time, but no longer than six months from the first day after the publication of the decision.

The proceedings were initiated on September 15, 2021, with a proposal for enforcement based on an authentic instrument by the enforcement creditor Tehno-plast d.o.o. against the petitioner as the debtor, after which a notary public’s enforcement decision was issued on October 26, 2021. By the decision of the first-instance court dated May 5, 2022, that decision was set aside in the part ordering enforcement, carried-out actions were annulled, and the proceedings continued regarding the objection to the payment order. The Constitutional Court considered the period from the issuance of the enforcement decision to the issuance of its own decision and determined that the proceedings have lasted a total of four years, eight months, and 20 days and are still ongoing before the first-instance court.

Course of Proceedings and Key Dates

• September 15, 2021 – proposal for enforcement based on an authentic instrument
• October 26, 2021 – notary public’s enforcement decision
• May 5, 2022 – decision by which the enforcement was set aside and proceedings continued regarding the objection to the payment order
• January 2, 2023 – summons to the plaintiff to adjust the claim in euros; the submission was delivered to the petitioner on January 31, 2023
• November 27, 2023 – preparatory hearing held
• January 2, 2024 – first-instance judgment rendered
• May 22, 2024 – judgment annulled by the decision of the County Court in Osijek number Gž-385/2024 and proceedings returned for retrial
• November 25, 2024 – main hearing held

Assessment of the Constitutional Court

The Court assessed the reasonableness of the duration of the proceedings according to the usual criteria: the complexity of the case, the behavior of the petitioner, the conduct of the competent authorities, and the importance of the case to the petitioner. It was determined that this is not a complex case and that the petitioner did not contribute to the length of the proceedings.

As key delays, the Court highlighted that after the delivery of the plaintiff’s submission to the petitioner on January 31, 2023, the preparatory hearing was held only on November 27, 2023, and that after the second-instance annulment decision of May 22, 2024, the hearing before the first-instance court was held only on November 25, 2024. The Constitutional Court assessed that the proceedings were conducted inefficiently and uneconomically, and that the petitioner’s right to have a court decide on his rights and obligations within a reasonable time, guaranteed by Article 29, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, was violated.

Previous Protection and Legal Framework

Prior to the constitutional complaint, the petitioner utilized the request for the protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time, which was rejected by the decision of the County Court in Zagreb number Su-Gzp-91/2025-5 dated May 15, 2025, and that decision was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia by decision number Gžzp-325/2025-3 dated March 25, 2026. The constitutional complaint was filed on May 27, 2026, and the petitioner is represented by Luka Matković, an attorney in Zagreb.

The relevant framework consists of Articles 65 to 69 of the Courts Act, including amendments from the Act Amending and Supplementing the Courts Act (Official Gazette number 36/24), and Article 63 of the Constitutional Act on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, on the basis of which the decision on compensation was made.

Ruling of the Decision and Payment

• The constitutional complaint is granted.
• The Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb is obliged to decide in case Povrv-2172/2024 within six months.
• Anti Samardžić from Zagreb, Pavla Hatza 3, is awarded compensation in the amount of 1,020.00 euros.
• The compensation shall be paid from the state budget within three months from the date of submitting the request to the Ministry of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation of the Republic of Croatia.
• The petitioner’s request for reimbursement of the costs of the constitutional court proceedings is rejected.
• The decision shall be published in the Official Gazette.

The decision was made by the panel consisting of Judge Ante Galić, President of the Panel, and Judges Biljana Kostadinov, Lovorka Kušan, Maša Marochini Zrinski, Rajko Mlinarić, and Frane Staničić.

The decision is another in a series of cases in which the Constitutional Court establishes a violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time due to long periods of inactivity by the regular courts. For parties in long-term proceedings, the message is that the request for the protection of that right, and subsequently a constitutional complaint, are available to them, along with the possibility of monetary compensation from the state budget. Simultaneously, the order to the Zagreb court to decide within six months directly accelerates the resolution of the specific case.

Source: Narodne novine, official gazette of the Republic of Croatia, number 105/2026, September 18, 2026 – Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia number U-IIIA-2027/2026 dated July 16, 2026.