"The Guide - Trial within a Reasonable Time" was presented today in Sarajevo, and it is a publication made within the project "Strengthening judicial capacities in B&H towards harmonization of domestic court practice with European legal standards".

President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zlatko M. Knežević, stated at the presentation that the Guide emphasizes the obligations of the authorities to "ensure all citizens the opportunity to fulfill their real or envisaged right through the intervention of the system as soon as possible."

The B&H Minister of Justice Josip Grubeša said that the content of the law on trial within a reasonable time at the state level has been sent into the procedure and that he expected it to be on the agenda of the B&H Parliamentary Assembly soon.

The British Ambassador to B&H Matthew Field emphasized that ensuring the right to a trial within a reasonable time has been a continuous challenge for all European countries and that he hopes that the guide will encourage everyone in B&H to contribute to the protection of that right.

It was underlined at the presentation that the guide explains what is the right to a trial within a reasonable time, what procedures are applicable, what are the deadlines, whether it is an urgent procedure or not, what are the criteria used in the case, what remedies can be used and whether there is a right to compensation and what are the appropriate amounts.

The Guide also contains a significant number of decisions of the Constitutional Court of B&H in which the European Convention and the case-law of the Court in Strasbourg have been applied.