Podgorica, (MINA) – The Constitutional Court upheld the appeal filed by the Sports and Fishing Club “Tara and Moraca” and overturned the judgment of the High Court in Bijelo Polje, which upheld the acquittal of the China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in the case of the devastation of the Tara River.

The Constitutional Court said that the case has been returned to the Bjelo Polje High Court for retrial due to the violation of the right to a fair trial.

They recalled that the case concerns criminal proceedings over the alleged destruction and damage of the protected natural asset, the River Tara, in which the Sport-Fishing Club, in addition to the state, was an injured party.

“With this decision, the Constitutional Court did not decide on whether a criminal offense was committed or on the possible criminal liability of the accused, but only on whether the proceedings were conducted in accordance with the constitutional guarantee of a right to a fair trial”, the press release said.

It is stated that, in response to the constitutional appeal, the CRBC company claimed that the Sports and Fishing Club “Tara and Moraca” had no right to file a constitutional appeal.

“The Constitutional Court did not accept those arguments. The Court assessed that in this particular case it is about the protection of the constitutional right to a healthy environment, which is why the guarantees of the right to a fair trial also apply to the Sports and Fishing Club that participates in the criminal proceedings as the injured party to protect those rights, which is everyone’s constitutional right as well as the standards of the Aarhus Convention”, the press release added.