Trial Within a Reasonable Time

To overcome challenges of inefficiency and complaints submitted to the European Court of Human Rights for violation of right to a fair trial, Serbia introduced in 2016 the Law on Protection of the Right to a Trial within the Reasonable Time. The Functional Review team assessed impact of the implementation of the Law. The Law, which came into effect at the beginning of 2016, allows parties to file a complaint with the court president if they believe their case is taking too long to resolve. The parties have the right to appeal if their complaint is rejected, if the president of the court does not decide on it within two months, or if the complaint is accepted but there are no actions taken to expedite the procedure.

The analysis revealed that the rising number of claims concerning the right to a trial within a reasonable time confirmed that the length of proceedings remained a pressing issues in Serbia, even as these cases also contributed to congestion in the courts.