On May 27, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) decided [3] the case of Marguš v. Croatia, declaring inadmissible the claim that that there had been a violation of Article 4 of Protocol No, 7 (the right not to be tried or punished twice) of the European Convention on Human Rights [4] (the ECHR) when Croatia convicted Marguš, a former commander of the Croatian army, of war crimes in 2007, having granted him an amnesty in 1997 pursuant to the General Amnesty Act [5] (unofficial translation). According to the press release [6], the Court underlined that “where a State official was charged with crimes involving torture or ill-treatment, it was of key importance that criminal proceedings and sentencing were not time-barred and that the granting of an amnesty or pardon should not be permissible.” The Court “concluded that “by bringing a fresh indictment against Mr Marguš . . . the Croatian authorities had acted in compliance with the requirements of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention and in a manner consistent with the requirements and recommendations of . . . international mechanisms and instruments.”

The Court also found that there had been no violation of Article 6 of the ECHR (the right to a fair trial) by virtue of the participation of the same judge in both sets of proceedings and by the fact that Marguš was denied the opportunity to make a closing argument.