Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.54070/hljk.29.2.9
EFFECTIVENESS OF INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN FROM THE ASPECT OF ARTICLES 3 AND 8 OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS
Marina Burić Ramadanović
orcid.org/0000-0003-4807-188X
; Odvjetnica, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
This paper examines the subject of effective investigation and prosecution in criminal cases of sexual violence against children and domestic violence against women and children from the aspect of Arts 3 and 8 of the Convention. The paper presents and analyses some of the selected decisions in which the European Court of Human Rights discussed the effectiveness of criminal investigation and prosecution in cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse of children and the impact of those court decisions on the Croatian legal system. The special review refers to the recent decision of the Constitutional Court in case number U-IIIBi-5910/2021 which was rendered on 12 April 2021. In that decision, the Constitutional Court concluded that the court proceedings that had lasted more than six and a half years, in which the victims of sexual violence were children, were excessive in duration which was incompatible with the procedural obligations of the State under Article 8 of the Convention and Article 35 of the Constitution of the Republic Croatia. The paper attempts to show that even today, although Croatia has an adequate legal and regulatory framework for the protection of children and women as victims of domestic and sexual violence, there are still numerous problems in the implementation of these instruments in practice.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
288481
URI
Publication date:
29.11.2022.
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