Published on 1 June 2026
 
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 26388/23
A.P.
against Croatia
lodged on 17 June 2023
communicated on 13 May 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The case concerns the applicant’s detention in Croatia with a view to his extradition to the Russian Federation.
The applicant is an Armenian national permanently residing in Italy.
In October 2021 he was arrested in Croatia based on an international arrest warrant issued by the Russian Federation. He was placed in detention pending the extradition proceedings. On 31 January 2023 the competent Croatian court ordered bail which could replace the detention, subject to the applicant complying with several precautionary measures (ban on leaving the city of Zagreb without special authorisation and reporting regularly to the police). After this decision became final on 13 February 2023, the applicant was released on bail on 17 February 2023. On 5 April 2023 the Croatian courts finally dismissed the extradition request. On 20 April 2023 the bail and the precautionary measures were terminated.
In the meantime, by a decision of 7 February 2023, served on the applicant on 22 February 2023, the Constitutional Court found that the applicant’s detention from 19 November 2021 until 31 January 2023 was unlawful and breached Article 5 § 1 of the Convention. It awarded the applicant 4,884 euros in compensation for non-pecuniary damage.
Further to this, by a decision of 25 April 2023, served on the applicant on 3 May 2023, the Constitutional Court quashed the decisions of 31 January and 13 February 2023 setting the bail and remitted the case to the first‑instance court. It declared inadmissible the applicant’s constitutional complaint against the latter decisions in the part ordering precautionary measures, holding that these were not amenable to constitutional review.
Before the Court, relying on Article 5 of the Convention, the applicant complains about the unlawfulness of his detention from 19 November 2021 to 17 February 2023. He points out that the Constitutional Court only found a violation of his right to liberty for the period up to 31 January 2023, when the competent court ordered bail. However, he was released on bail only on 17 February 2023. He further states that the compensation awarded to him by the Constitutional Court for the period up to 31 January 2023 was insufficient, having regard to the seriousness of the violation and the suffering he endured.
The applicant also complains that the domestic courts’ decisions ordering the precautionary measures, which restricted his freedom of movement and prevented him from leaving Zagreb for a period of two months and three days, likewise breached Article 5 of the Convention.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1.  Can the applicant still be considered as a victim of the alleged violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention for the period of his detention from 19 November 2021 to 31 January 2023, within the meaning of Article 34 thereof, in view of the Constitutional Court’s decision of 7 February 2023, and in particular having regard to the amount of compensation awarded to him for non-pecuniary damage (see, for example, Hadžić and Suljić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, nos. 39446/06 and 33849/08, §§ 33-35, 7 June 2011)?
 
2.  If the applicant can still be considered as a victim of the alleged violation, was the applicant’s detention from 19 November 2021 to 31 January 2023 in breach Article 5 § 1 of the Convention?
 
3.  Was the applicant’s detention from 1 to 17 February 2023, when he was released on bail, in breach Article 5 § 1 of the Convention?
 
4.  Were the measures prohibiting the applicant to leave the City of Zagreb and obliging him to report regularly to the police lawful, necessary and justified by the public interest, within the meaning of Article 2 of Protocol No. 4?