Annulment of presidential pardons was justified, but fair trial rights violated for two of the three applicants

In the case of Taleski and Others v. North Macedonia the Court held that there had been no violation of the right to a fair trial on account of the legislative intervention permitting the annulment of the presidential pardons and the continuation of the criminal proceedings against the applicants. The Court also held that there had been:

• a violation of the right to a fair trial as regards the right to an adversarial trial on account of the failure to serve one of the applicants, Mr Mitrovski, with a copy of the higher prosecutor’s submissions; and
• a violation of the right to a fair trial as regards the right to an adversarial trial on account of the failure to serve another of the applicants, Mr Janakieski, with a copy of the higher prosecutor’s submissions.

The case concerned a legislative intervention, the 2016 Pardon Act, which permitted the annulment of presidential pardons that had been granted to the applicants six weeks earlier and which, at the time, had been considered to be final and irrevocable. As a consequence, the pardons were annulled and the applicants, who were public officials, were prosecuted for abuse of official position and authority and various electoral offences. The case also concerned the fairness of those criminal proceedings.

• Press release