ECHR Dismisses Croatian TV’s Complaints About Local Courts’ Divergent Justice’

Croatian Radio and Television. Photo: HRT.

The court said HRT was a victim of uneven judicial practice by Croatian courts, but that its rights from the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms had not been violated.

In October 2009, an internal audit discovered that A.K., an employee of HRT's finance department, had paid fees for external translation services on behalf of the HRT to 176 individuals who had never performed those services.

The individuals had been contacted by A.K. directly or through an intermediary, a certain M.P., who was also an employee of HRT as a technician.

All payments had been processed through the systems of the institution and deposited in the accounts of the fictitious external contractors.

They then returned the sums paid to A.K. or M.P., keeping around 5 per cent of the sums as a commission. In that way, HRT lost around 7,500,000 Croatian kunas, or some 995,421 euros.

A.K. was dismissed and HRT lodged a criminal complaint against him. He died soon afterwards, in early 2010. No criminal proceedings were instituted against him.

In 2010 and 2011, HRT brought more than a hundred civil actions for enrichment without cause ("unjust enrichment") against various individuals who had received the payments.

In about half of those cases, the domestic courts ruled in its favour, whereas in the other half, they ruled for the defendants, depending on which second-instance court had decided the case.

HRT submitted that all the cases examined on appeal by the Zagreb County Court or the Pula County Court had ended in those courts ruling against it.

The courts which ruled in favour of the HRT applied the general rule on unjust enrichment. They also held that...