Important decisions

Identification: MKD-1997-1-001
a) "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 25.12.1996 / e) U.59/96 / f) Sluzben vesnik na Fiepublika Makedonija (Official Gazette), no. 5/97 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
General Principles - Rule of law.
Fundamental Rights - General questions - Limits and restrictions.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Individual liberty.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Police, writ / Writ / Police, custody.

Headnotes:
No citizen can be deprived of liberty except by a court decision for his or her detention in cases determined by law.

Summary:
The initiative was lodged by the Bar Council challenging Article 151.3 of the Law of Criminal Procedure.
Under the challenged provision, the police were authorised to summon citizens by a writ stating the reasons for the summons and to take them by force to a police station if they failed to respond to the summons, upon the condition that the summons contained the warning of such a consequence.
The Court repealed the challenged provision finding it unconstitutional, for the following reasons:
By Article 12 of the Constitution, the human right to liberty is irrevocable. A person's liberty cannot be restricted except by court decision and in such cases and according to such procedure as determined by law. The sense of this constitutional provision is that detention should be allowed only if both conditions are fulfilled cumulatively, i.e. the citizen can be detained only in cases determined by law and on the basis of a court decision for his or her detention (or any other kind of deprivation of liberty). Considering that the challenged Article envisages the apprehension of citizens who fail to respond to the summons, without the prerequisite of a court decision, the Court found that this provision is not consistent with the Constitution, since the constitutional requirement that both conditions under which the citizens could be deprived of liberty be fulfilled has not been respected.

Languages: Macedonian.

Identification: MKD-1997-1 -002
a) 'The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 12.03.1997 / e) U.2/97 / f) / g) Sluzben vesnikna Republika Makedonija (Official Gazette), no. 17/97/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Constitutional Justice - Types of litigation – Electoral disputes - Local elections.
Institutions - Army and police forces.
Fundamental Rights - General questions - Limits and restrictions.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Electoral rights - Right to be elected.

Keywords of the alphabetical index:
Armed forces, members, right to be elected / Policemen, right to be elected / Intelligence service, members, right to be elected / Elections, local, candidates.

Headnotes:
Any citizen, on reaching 18 years of age, acquires the right to vote and to be elected unless they have been deprived of civil capacity (Article 22 of the Constitution).
The laws governing electoral procedure cannot prescribe limitations on electoral rights which extend the limitations already envisaged by the Constitution, i.e. they cannot prescribe limitation on the right to be elected for a certain category of citizens.

Summary:
The case was initiated by a citizen challenging the constitutionality of Article 5.3 of the Law on Local Elections, under which the members of the armed forces, uniformed police officers and authorised officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Intelligence Agency, cannot be nominated or elected as members of Local Council or as mayor.
Under Article 22 of the Constitution, any citizen on reaching 18 years of age acquires electoral rights. This right is enjoyed equally, universally and directly and it is exercised at free elections by secret ballot. Only persons deprived of civil capacity are excluded from the right to vote and to be elected. The Constitution does not distinguish between "active" and "passive" electoral rights which means that once the determined conditions are fulfilled the citizen acquires the right to vote and the right to be elected. No special conditions for the acquisition of the right to be elected are envisaged except for the election of the President of the Republic (Article 80 of the Constitution).
In view of the fact that the Constitution has established fundamental electoral principles allowing the electoral regime and procedure to be determined by law, the legal presumption is that electoral laws should be consistent with the Constitution, i.e. they cannot contain restrictions on electoral rights which extend beyond the limits of the constitutional frame.
For these reasons, the Constitutional Court repealed the challenged provision since it restricts the right to be nominated and elected as member of Local Council or mayor for a significant number of citizens.

Languages: Macedonian

Identification: MKD-1997-1-003
a) 'The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 19.03.1997 / e) U.180/96 / f) / g) Sluzben vesnik na Republika Makedonija (Official Gazette), no. 16/97/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Executive bodies -Territorial administrative decentralisation - Municipalities.
Institutions - Executive bodies - Territorial administrative decentralisation - Supervision.

Keywords of the alphabetical index:
Local communities / Financial control / Financial resources, origin.

Headnotes:
The financial control exercised by local municipalities over the finances of local communities should be limited to the financial means provided by the municipality. That is, the control should not cover the financial means of the local communities which have been provided from other sources.

Summary:
The case was initiated by the Local Communities Committee, which challenged the Articles of Statutes of several municipalities which had authorised municipal councils supervisory boards to exercise financial control over the finances of local communities.
The Constitutional Court repealed the challenged provisions finding that they were not consistent with Articles 81 and 82 of the Law on Local Self-Government. Under Article 82 of the Law on Local Self-Government, the local community could be financed from several sources and the financial means provided by the local self-government unit are merely one of these sources. Considering this manner of financing, the Court found that the financial control exercised by municipalities over the finances of local communities should be limited only to the financial means which have been provided by the municipality in question and should not extend to the financial means provided by other sources. Thus it represents an infringement of the independent self-government of local communities.

Languages: Macedonian