The Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights Where the Republic of Serbia Is a Party to the Proceedings – A Comparative Statistical Analysis

Abstract

In comparison to the size of its population, the number of submissions against the Republic of Serbia before the European Court of Human Rights is very high and it is continuously growing. The great number of submissions testifies about an exceptional trust the citizens of Serbia have towards the work of this international judicial institution but it also indicates the existence of structural problems Serbia is currently facing. Throughout this essay the author has attempted to depict the position of the Republic of Serbia as a respondent party in the proceedings before the ECtHR during the last five years by using the relevant statistical data. The statistical indicators are analysed with the aim to identify the prevailing trends vis-à- vis a number of important issues such as: how often the citizens of Serbia plead to the ECtHR, the type of violations the citizens are usually referring to, prevailing types of decisions issued by the ECtHR, damages awarded, appeal to second instance, and other important features of the proceedings conducted before the court in Strasbourg.