CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;GRANDCHAMBER;ENG — 25 juin 2025

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color:#0069d6 } .s8EB5F569 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sA1D3DA2E { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s4B8D41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:10pt } .sB6D33163 { font-family:Arial; font-size:10pt; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s3133A7C8 { font-family:Arial; color:#0069d6 } .s3DB046A9 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic; background-color:#ffffff } .s391E78BA { font-family:Arial; background-color:#ffffff } GRAND CHAMBER CASE OF KOVAČEVIĆ v. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (Application no. 43651/22)   JUDGMENT   Rule 35 of the Rules of Court • Representation of Contracting Parties • Applicant estopped from contesting the authority of the acting Agents of the respondent Government to represent it before the Court • Applicant’s arguments not based on new developments but of a retroactive nature and equally applicable during the Chamber proceedings • Doubts or objections regarding an individual’s status to act as a Government representative before the Court to be raised in limine litis , in so far as the circumstances permit • Principles of legal certainty and stability, procedural economy and the proper administration of justice • No official decisions by the Council of Ministers, or any other competent State bodies, to withdraw the referral request or the authority of the Government’s incumbent acting Agent • Grand Chamber and its panel properly seised by acting Agents with the authority to seek the referral • Respondent State duly represented • Any actual procedural irregularity pertaining to the acting Agents’ status under domestic law remained an internal matter to be resolved within the domestic legal system Art 35 § 3 (a) • Highly reproachable conduct on the applicant’s part in the Grand Chamber proceedings amounted to an abuse of the right of application • Unsubstantiated accusations and offensive remarks directly targeting the Court’s then President, and indirectly the Grand Chamber panel members, exceeded the bounds of legitimate criticism and involved gratuitous attacks • Statements targeting the Government’s acting Agents and High Representative amounting to gratuitous personal attacks and malicious accusations • Information provided by the applicant concerning his ethnicity on his profile page on the Sarajevo City Council’s official website considered deceptive regarding a matter of potential relevance to the case Art 34 • Art 14 (+ Art 3 P1) • Art 1 P12 • Lack of victim status for discrimination complaints concerning the inability to vote for candidates of choice due to a combination of ethnic and territorial requirements governing the legislative and presidential elections at State level • Distinction drawn between active and passive aspects of the right to vote • Case distinguished from Sejdić and Finci v.   Bosnia and Herzegovina [GC] as impugned rules challenged from the voter’s standpoint in the exercise of the “active” right to vote rather than the “passive” aspect of that right • Establishment of voters’ victim status required a sufficient direct link between them and the alleged harm sustained in their capacity as voters on account of the rules at issue • Complaints directed at effecting a change to the respondent State’s constitutional and electoral structure in a general manner amounting thus to an abstract critique of the “state of the law” of an actio popularis nature   Prepared by the Registry. Does not bind the Court.   STRASBOURG 25 June 2025   This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision   TABLE OF CONTENTS PROCEDURE INTRODUCTION THE FACTS I.   THE BACKGROUND TO THE CASE II.   THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE A.   The applicant’s situation B.   Developments following the adoption of the Chamber judgment 1.   Submissions regarding media coverage of the Chamber judgment 2.   Submissions regarding the applicant’s ethnic affiliation RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICE I.   DOMESTIC LAW AND PRACTICE A.   The State Constitution (Annex 4 to the Dayton Agreement) B.   Election Act C.   Description of the relevant domestic law relating to the Entities 1.   Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2.   Republika Srpska D.   Relevant legal framework and practice governing the Agent of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the Court 1.   Domestic law and practice 2.   Notifications to the Court regarding the Agent of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the Court during the relevant period II.   INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICE A.   International law and practice relating to the substantive legal issues before the Court 1.   United Nations 2.   Council of Europe (a)   Parliamentary Assembly (b)   Committee of Ministers (c)   Commissioner for Human Rights (d)   European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) (i)   Material pertaining to Bosnia and Herzegovina (ii)   Other relevant material (e)   Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (f)   European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (g)   Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities 3.   European Union B.   International law and practice relating to the question of State representation before other international courts THE LAW I.   PRELIMINARY ISSUES A.   Authority of the acting Agents to represent the respondent Government before the Court 1.   Submissions made prior to the referral of the case to the Grand Chamber 2.   Submissions made following the referral of the case to the Grand Chamber (a)   The applicant (b)   The Government 3.   The Court’s assessment B.   The Court’s competence to entertain the present application C.   Scope of the case before the Grand Chamber II.   THE GOVERNMENT’S PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS A.   Abuse of the right of individual application 1.   The parties’ submissions before the Grand Chamber (a)   The Government (b)   The applicant (c)   The third parties 2.   The Court’s assessment B.   The applicant’s victim status and the applicability of the relevant provisions of the Convention and the Protocols thereto 1.   The parties’ submissions before the Grand Chamber (a)   The Government (b)   The applicant (c)   The third parties 2.   The Court’s assessment (a)   General principles (i)   Victim status (ii)   Applicability of the relevant provisions of the Convention and the Protocols thereto (compatibility ratione materiae) (b)   Application of those principles to the present case (i)   Preliminary remarks regarding the nature and content of the applicant’s discrimination complaints (ii)   Victim status in respect of the complaints regarding elections to the House of Peoples (iii)   Victim status in respect of the complaints regarding elections to the Presidency (iv)   Conclusion C.   The remaining preliminary objection OPERATIVE PROVISIONS CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE PAVLI JOINT STATEMENT OF PARTIAL DISSENT OF JUDGES BÅRDSEN, CHANTURIA, YÜKSEL AND SCHEMBRI ORLAND DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE VEHABOVIĆ In the case of Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, The European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber composed of:   Mattias Guyomar, President ,   Arnfinn Bårdsen,   Ivana Jelić,   Lado Chanturia,   Ioannis Ktistakis,   Faris Vehabović,   Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström,   Alena Poláčková,   Gilberto Felici,   Darian Pavli,   Erik Wennerström,   Saadet Yüksel,   Lorraine Schembri Orland,   Anja Seibert-Fohr,   Peeter Roosma,   Davor Derenčinović,   Mykola Gnatovskyy, judges , and Marialena Tsirli, Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 20 November 2024 and 25 June 2025, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the latter date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in an application (no. 43651/22) against Bosnia and   Herzegovina lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the   Convention”) by a dual national of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, Mr Slaven Kovačević (“the applicant”), on 30 August 2022. 2.     On 6 June 2024 the applicant was granted leave by a decision of the then Vice-President of the Court to present his own case (Rule 71 § 1 and Rule 36 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court). The Government of Bosnia and   Herzegovina (“the Government”) were represented by their acting Agent, Ms   Monika Mijić. 3 .     The applicant complained that he had been discriminated against in the exercise of his (active) right to vote, as he had been deprived of the opportunity to vote for candidates of his own choice by reason of a combination of ethnic and territorial requirements governing the elections to both chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In his application form of 30   August 2022, the applicant relied on Article 14 of the Convention, in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, in respect of his complaints concerning the elections to both chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly, although during the course of the proceedings before the Chamber he also relied on Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 in connection with those complaints. As concerns his complaints relating to the elections to the Presidency, the applicant relied on Article 1 of Protocol   No.   12. He also raised complaints under Articles 13 and 17 of the Convention. 4.     The application was allocated to the Fourth Section of the Court (Rule   52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). On 27 October 2022 notice of the application was given to the Government. 5 .     On 29 August 2023 a Chamber of the Fourth Section, composed of Judges Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President, Tim Eicke, Faris Vehabović, Iulia Antoanella Motoc, Armen Harutyunyan, Ana Maria Guerra Martins and Anne Louise Bormann, judges, and Andrea Tamietti, Section Registrar, delivered a judgment in the present case, which had been adopted on 20   June   2023 (“the Chamber judgment”). The Chamber held, by six votes to one, that there had been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 because of the ethnic and territorial criteria applicable to the composition of the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the second legislative chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hereinafter referred to as “the House of Peoples” or the “State House of Peoples” when it is necessary to distinguish it from the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also found, by six votes to one, that there was no need to examine either the admissibility or the merits of the complaint concerning the composition of the House of Peoples from the standpoint of Article 14 of the Convention taken in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. The Chamber further declared inadmissible, unanimously, the remainder of the applicant’s complaints under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 taken alone and/or in conjunction with Article 14 of the Convention – which concerned, as regards the House of Peoples, the lack of direct elections to that second legislative chamber and, as regards the House of Representatives of Bosnia and   Herzegovina (the first legislative chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hereinafter referred to as “the House of Representatives”), the election of some members from compensatory lists and the division of the national territory into constituencies for the purposes of the elections to that first chamber. The applicant’s complaints under Articles   13 and 17 of the Convention were similarly declared inadmissible, unanimously. The dissenting opinion of Judge Kucsko-Stadlmayer was annexed to the judgment. 6 .     By a letter dated 19 September 2023, which was received at the Court on 20 September 2023, the acting Agents of the Government requested the referral of the case to the Grand Chamber in accordance with Article 43 of the Convention. 7 .     On 11 December 2023 the panel of the Grand Chamber, constituted in accordance with Rule 24 § 5, convened. It decided, on the basis of the material before it, to adjourn the examination of the referral request in the present case and to ask the Government to indicate whether they confirmed the request of 19   September 2023 for the referral of the case to the Grand Chamber. After confirmation had been provided by the acting Agents of the Government, on 14 December 2023 the panel of the Grand Chamber granted the referral request. Further information regarding the process before the panel of the Grand Chamber is provided in paragraphs 80-91 below. 8.     The composition of the Grand Chamber was determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 26 §§ 4 and 5 of the Convention and Rule 24. 9 .     On 5 January 2024 the applicant requested the recusal of the President of the Grand Chamber at that time, namely Judge Síofra O’Leary, from the proceedings before the Grand Chamber by virtue of Rule 28 §§ 2 (e) and 4. The applicant relied on a number of grounds in support of his request. He firstly reproached the President, who had also presided over the panel of the Grand Chamber, for allowing the referral request to proceed despite clear evidence which, in his opinion, demonstrated that it had been lodged by unauthorised persons (see paragraphs 81-91 below for further information on the applicant’s arguments in this regard). He claimed in this regard that the President had failed to transmit to the panel members the evidence submitted to the Court as proof of the acting Agents’ lack of authority, and had also used her position to pressure or persuade the panel members to grant the referral request, insinuating that she might have offered benefits or privileges to those judges in return. In the applicant’s view, the conduct of the procedure before the panel had clearly indicated the President’s “intention to do everything in her power to derogate, invalidate and ultimately abolish” the Chamber judgment in the present case, which he suggested might have resulted from “some other political and personal interests that are not of a legal nature nor are they in accordance with the Rules of Court and the Convention”. He also reproached the President for allegedly holding frequent official meetings with the Croatian authorities, who he claimed had a political stake in the Court’s ruling, and for showing reluctance to meet with officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having deliberated in accordance with the procedure set out under Rule 28 § 3, on 30 January 2024 the Grand Chamber decided to reject the applicant’s recusal request. 10 .     On 8 February 2024 the acting Agent of the Government requested the recusal of the judge elected in respect of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Judge   Faris Vehabović, from the proceedings in the present case under Rule   28 §§ 2 (d) and (e) and 4 by reason of his alleged lack of independence and impartiality. Following the procedure set out under Rule 28 § 3, on 19   March 2024 the Grand Chamber decided to reject the recusal request submitted by the acting Government Agent. 11.     On 16 September 2024 the then President of the Grand Chamber granted leave to the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (“the   High Representative”) to intervene in the written procedure and to take part in the hearing before the Grand Chamber (Article 36 § 2 of the Convention, Rule 71 § 1 and Rule 44 § 3). As the applicant also holds possessed Croatian nationality, on 23 October 2024 the Croatian Government expressed their intention to exercise their right to take part in the written and oral proceedings before the Grand Chamber as a third party (Article 36 § 1 of the Convention and Rule 44 § 1). 12.     The applicant and the Government each filed a memorial on 7   June   2024 (Rule 59 § 1). In addition, third ‑ party comments were received from the High Representative and the Croatian Government, on 7 October and 8 November 2024 respectively. 13.     A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 20 November 2024. There appeared before the Court: (a)     for the Government Ms   M. Mijić,   Acting Government Agent , Mr   D. Bunoza,   Minister of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Mr   V. Škobić,   Minister of Justice of the Federation of                                                                                                                                                     Bosnia   and   Herzegovina , Mr   M. Bukejlović,   Minister of Justice of Republika Srpska , Ms   L. Mijović,   Adviser ; (b)     for the applicant Mr   S. Kovačević ,   Applicant , Mr   J. Marko, Ms   A. Zornić,   Counsel ; (c)     for the Croatian Government Ms   S. Stažnik,   Agent , Ms   A. Patiniotis, Mr   I. Pepic, Mr   M. Očuršćak,   Advisers ; (d)     for the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr   T. Otty, KC ,   Counsel , Mr   E. d’Aoust, Mr   J. Leon Diaz,   Advisers .   The Court heard addresses by the applicant, Mr Marko, Ms Zornić, Ms   Mijić, Ms Stažnik and Mr Otty KC, and the answers by the applicant, Mr   Marko, Ms Mijić, Ms Mijović, Ms Stažnik and Mr Otty KC to questions put by the Court. 14.     After the hearing, the President of the Grand Chamber, Marko   Bošnjak, withdrew from the case following the end of his term of office at the Court. As President of the Grand Chamber he was replaced by Mattias Guyomar, and as a member of the composition he was replaced by the first substitute judge, Mykola Gnatovskyy (Rule 24 § 3). INTRODUCTION 15.     The present case concerns the alleged discrimination against the applicant, by reason of the ethnic and territorial requirements governing the elections to the House of Peoples and the Presidency of Bosnia and   Herzegovina, which purportedly prevented him from voting for the candidates of his choice in legislative and presidential elections at the State level. The applicant initially relied on Article 14 of the Convention, taken in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, in respect of his complaints relating to the House of Peoples, but at the subsequent stages of the proceedings before the Court he also relied on Article 1 of Protocol   No.   12 in relation to those complaints (see paragraph 3 above). As regards his complaints concerning the Presidency, the applicant relied on Article 1 of Protocol No. 12. 16 .     The Court notes that the constitutional and electoral rules governing the elections to the House of Peoples and the Presidency of Bosnia and   Herzegovina (see paragraphs 36 and 37 below) were the subject of its examination in Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina ([GC], nos.   27996/06 and 34836/06, §§ 38-56, ECHR 2009). That case concerned the ineligibility of the applicants, who were of Roma and Jewish origin respectively, to stand for election to those State bodies on the ground that they were not affiliated with a “constituent people” (see paragraph 20 below for the definition of “constituent peoples”). The Court found that the applicants’ ineligibility to stand for election to the House of Peoples and the Presidency lacked an objective and reasonable justification and had therefore breached Article 14 of the Convention taken in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol   No.   1, and Article 1 of Protocol No. 12, respectively (see Sejdić   and   Finci , cited above, §§ 50 and 56). The Court’s findings in that judgment were subsequently reiterated in a series of cases raising similar issues as regards ineligibility to stand for election to the State bodies in question, by reason of the persistent failure of the authorities of the respondent State to introduce measures to remedy the shortcomings identified (see Zornić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina , no. 3681/06, §§ 26-43, 15 July 2014; Šlaku v. Bosnia and Herzegovina [Committee], no. 56666/12, §§ 24-34, 26   May 2016; Pilav v. Bosnia and Herzegovina , no. 41939/07, §§ 38-50, 9   June 2016; and Pudarić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina [Committee], no.   55799/18, §§ 25-29, 8 December 2020, hereinafter referred to as “the   Sejdić and Finci group of cases”). These cases are still under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers pending execution of the judgments concerned (see paragraphs 59-61 below). 17.     The applicant’s allegations of discrimination in the present case are based on the same constitutional and electoral rules as those examined by the Court in the Sejdić and Finci group of cases referred to above. However, the applicant’s case differs from those earlier cases in that it challenges the allegedly discriminatory effect of the impugned rules not from the standpoint of the right to stand for election – that is, the so-called “passive” aspect of the right to vote safeguarded under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 – but from the standpoint of a voter in the exercise of the so-called “active” right to vote. THE FACTS THE BACKGROUND TO THE CASE 18.     The 1995 General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and   Herzegovina (“the Dayton Agreement”), which brought an end to the conflict that raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina for nearly four years, was the culmination of some forty-four months of intermittent negotiations under the auspices of the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia and the Contact Group. It was initialled at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton (United States of America) on 21 November 1995 was signed in Paris on 14 December 1995, and entered into force on the latter date. It contains eleven Articles which mainly set out the obligations for the three Contracting States (the then Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) to “welcome and endorse” and to “fully respect and promote fulfilment of the commitments” made in the annexes thereto (see Berić and Others v. Bosnia and Herzegovina (dec.), no. 36357/04 and 25 others, § 10, 16 October 2007). The substance of the commitments is contained in twelve annexes. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter referred to as “the   Constitution” or “the State Constitution” when it is necessary to distinguish it from the Entity Constitutions) is Annex 4 to the Dayton Agreement (see paragraph 36 below). 19.     The Constitution thus put in place by the Dayton Agreement confirmed the continuation of the legal existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a State, while modifying its internal structure. According to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two Entities – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (also referred to as “the   Federation”) and the Republika Srpska (see Article I § 3 of the Constitution) – and the Brčko District in the joint ownership (condominium) of the two Entities. 20 .     In the Preamble to the Constitution, Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs are described as “constituent peoples” (see paragraph 36 below). A distinction is made between these “constituent peoples” and “Others” (members of ethnic minorities and persons who do not declare affiliation with any particular group because of intermarriage, mixed parenthood, or other reasons). According to the information provided by the Government, the distribution of the population among the “constituent peoples” and “Others” was recorded as follows in the censuses held in 1991 and 2013:     Bosnia and   Herzegovina Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska   1991 2013 1991 2013 1991 2013 Total (million) 4.38 3.53 2.7 2.22 1.6 1.23 Bosniacs (%) 43.47 50.01 52.3 70.4 28 14 Croats (%) 17.38 15.4 21.9 22.4 9.2 2.4 Serbs (%) 31.21 30.8 17.6 2.5 55.5 81.5 Other (%) 7.94 3.7 8.2 4.6 7.3 2.1   21.     The protection of the interests of the “constituent peoples” is ensured at the State level via a number of constitutional provisions incorporating power-sharing arrangements that were designed to end the conflict and that make it impossible to adopt decisions against the will of the representatives of any “constituent people” (see Sejdić and Finci , cited above, §§ 7 and 45). In this connection, the Constitution provides for a bicameral parliamentary system (with a House of Peoples – the second chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina – composed of five Bosniacs and five Croats from the Federation and five Serbs from the Republika Srpska), a   collective Head of State – the Presidency – comprising three members (a   Bosniac and a Croat elected from the Federation and a Serb elected from the Republika Srpska), as well as a vital interest veto and an Entity veto in both the House of Peoples and the Presidency (see Articles IV and V of the Constitution, quoted in paragraph 36 below; for further information on the background to these provisions, see Sejdić and Finci , cited above, §§   13   and   14). 22.     In accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions, while no ethnic requirements apply in elections to the House of Representatives, only persons declaring affiliation with a “constituent people” are entitled to stand for election to the House of Peoples and the Presidency. The relevant provisions of the domestic law relating to the procedure for elections to the House of Peoples and the Presidency are set out in paragraphs 36 and 37 below (see, in particular, Article IV § 1 and Article V § 1 of the Constitution and sections 9.12 and 9.12a and section 8.1 of the Election Act respectively). 23.     The latest legislative and presidential elections at the State level took place on 2 October 2022. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE The applicant’s situation 24.     The applicant, who was born in 1972, is a resident of the Sarajevo Canton, which is situated in the Federation. He is a political scientist and, according to the information in the case file, a political adviser to a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely Mr Željko Komšić [1] . The applicant did not provide any information in the proceedings before the Court as regards his ethnic affiliation, which he considers to be “irrelevant” for the purposes of his case (see paragraphs 31-35 below for the parties’ submissions as regards the applicant’s ethnic affiliation). 25.     The applicant lodged his application with the Court on 30 August 2022, that is, prior to the latest State-level elections held on 2 October 2022. He contended that by reason of the combination of the ethnic and territorial requirements pertaining to the composition of the House of Peoples and the Presidency, he was prevented from voting for, or otherwise influencing the selection of, the candidates of his choice for those bodies, which he claimed amounted to discrimination. The applicant did not raise those complaints before any domestic courts or authorities prior to lodging his application with the Court. Nor did he indicate whether he had voted in the elections of October   2022. 26 .     According to information obtained from the official website of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fifteen seats at the House of Peoples are distributed as follows after the general elections of October 2022 [2] :   Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska Bosniacs Croats Serbs People and Justice (NiP): 1 Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH): 3 Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD): 3 Party of Democratic Action (SDA): 2 Croatian Democratic Union 1990 (HDZ 1990): 1 Serb Democratic Party (SDS): 1 Democratic Front (DF): 1 Independent delegate: 1 Party of Democratic Progress (PDP): 1 Party for Bosnia and   Herzegovina (SBiH): 1     Developments following the adoption of the Chamber judgment Submissions regarding media coverage of the Chamber judgment 27 .     Following its deliberations in private, on 20 June 2023 a Chamber of the Fourth Section adopted its judgment in the present case (see paragraph 5 above). On 28 August 2023 – that is, one day prior to the delivery of the Chamber judgment (ibid.) – the Government notified the Court of an article that had been published by a local news outlet the previous evening, which allegedly reported on the contents of the Chamber’s forthcoming judgment. The Government further claimed that the applicant had also personally commented on the outcome of the judgment via audiovisual and written media on the same evening and had allegedly stated that “he was aware of the fact that the Court had accepted his application and had found a violation of his rights”. 28.     By a letter dated 13 September 2023, the Court asked the applicant to provide an explanation as to whether, and if so how, he had become aware of the contents of the Chamber’s judgment prior to its delivery on 29 August 2023. 29 .     In his response sent on 19 September 2023, the applicant denied having had any knowledge of the contents of the Chamber’s judgment prior to its publication. He explained that in his media appearance of 27 August 2023 mentioned by the Government, he had only shared his awareness that the Court had accepted for consideration his complaints of a violation of his rights, based on the public document “Forthcoming judgments and decisions 29-31 August 2023” published on 23 August 2023 on the Court’s website. He had otherwise made it clear that he was not aware of the contents of the judgment at all. The remarks of the host of the programme regarding the substance of the judgment had been mere speculation, as had become apparent following the publication of the judgment on 29 August 2023. 30 .     The applicant also stated in the same letter that there were claims circulating in the local media suggesting that certain political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the acting Agent of the Government (Ms Harisa Bačvić) and certain actors from Croatia, had lobbied the Court to secure a dissenting opinion in the Chamber judgment. The applicant indicated that those claims could neither be confirmed or denied, but that they “brought him a sense of fear and unease, especially if political lobbying can exert any influence on the esteemed Court”. Submissions regarding the applicant’s ethnic affiliation 31 .     On 7 June 2024 the Government submitted information, as part of their memorial before the Grand Chamber, suggesting that the applicant had declared his affiliation with the Croat people during his service as a city councillor on the Sarajevo City Council in the period between 2012 and 2016. This information was based on a printout (dated 16 May 2024) of the applicant’s profile that was apparently published on the Sarajevo City Council’s official website [3] , on which the “ethnicity” field was filled in as “Croat”. 32 .     By a letter dated 18 June 2024, the applicant contested the accuracy of the information furnished by the acting Agents of the Government. In this connection, he submitted that he was obliged, for the sake of truth, to provide the Court with a printout of the web page in question obtained on 18   June   2024, where the relevant field was blank. Appended to his letter was a certificate from the head of the service for City Council Affairs, verifying the authenticity of the data on the relevant web page as submitted by the applicant, which had been issued on 18 June 2024 at his request. The applicant further contended that neither in his application form nor in his subsequent submissions had he “used [his] own ethnicity”, as he believed that such information could not and should not be used in “matters concerning [the] active voting right”. 33 .     On 31 July 2024 the Government responded to the applicant’s letter. They stated that in the interests of the proper conduct of the proceedings and with a view to preventing deception of the Court, they had asked the Sarajevo City Council (i) to confirm whether in the period from 2012 until 16 May 2024 the “ethnicity” field on the relevant web page had indeed been filled in as “Croat”, and (ii) to indicate when and at whose request the indication of the applicant’s ethnicity as “Croat” had been removed from the official website of the City Council. According to the information provided by the Chairperson of the City Council on 12 July 2024, which was appended to the Government’s letter, the relevant data pertaining to the applicant’s ethnicity had been removed from the website on 12 June 2024 following a verbal request from the applicant. 34 .     In his response submitted on 10 September 2024, the applicant maintained that the assertions of the acting Agents of the Government had been “incorrect, illegal and manipulative”. He asserted that while he had served on the Sarajevo City Council in 2015-2016, he had never given his consent to the City Council to obtain, process, use, make public or transfer his personal data. It was therefore clear to him that the acting Agents of the Government had obtained that information illegally, regardless of whether the information was correct or incorrect. The applicant also reiterate