5.  The applicant was born in 1951 and lives in Portorož.
6.  The applicant and R.H. are neighbours; they live in a two apartment house with a shared courtyard. They have been in conflict for several years and have both instituted several sets of legal proceedings against each other.
7.  On 13 February 2004 R.H. lodged a criminal complaint against the applicant. He alleged that earlier on that same day the applicant had threatened him by yelling “I have bought a gun, so it will all be over soon”. R.H. alleged that this incident happened in front of their house. He stated that first his cleaning lady had been obstructed by the applicant when entering the courtyard through a small door, and half an hour later he had been able to open neither the small door, nor the large electric sliding doors, which he had assumed had been the applicant’s fault. At that point he allegedly engaged in arguing with the applicant who allegedly replied with the aforementioned threats. R.H. also stated that the applicant had had a gun licence.
8.  On 1 March 2004 the Koper police held an interview with the applicant.
9.  On 2 April 2004 the police sent a report to the Koper district prosecutor, stating that they had not found any reasonable suspicion that the alleged criminal offence had been committed by the applicant.
10.  On 29 October 2004 the Koper district prosecutor lodged charges against the applicant for the offence of threatening the security of another person.
11.  On 2 April 2007 the Piran Local Court held a hearing. The applicant denied the charges, claimed that R.H. had lied and that multiple sets of proceedings had been brought against him following an attempt on his life in 1999. He requested that the video surveillance footage of the day of the incident be inspected. He handed in to the court the minutes from a hearing of 9 February 2004 in some other proceedings which noted that the applicant had changed the lock of the small door leading to the courtyard and that he had handed the new keys to R.H. at that hearing. In reply to the questions put by the applicant’s counsel, R.H. submitted that there had been between twelve and sixteen cameras surveying inside and the outside area of the house and that the recordings had been stored for about fifteen days. He said that the applicant had been standing somewhere between his entrance and the courtyard of the house during the incident but had refused to sketch where the incident had taken place. R.H. further replied that he had not checked the video footage following the incident, but that in any event the cameras would have not covered the whole incident and that the server of the video surveillance system had broken down on many occasions; he later added that in any case the server had been changed by the maintenance company. The applicant insisted that an inspection of the site be carried out and that evidence concerning video surveillance, including information such as the change of server, could and should be verified. The judge found it unnecessary to obtain the evidence in question and the following day acquitted the applicant finding that it had not been proved that the applicant had directed the threats against R.H.
12.  On 21 November 2007 the Koper Higher Court upheld the appeal lodged by the district attorney’s office and remitted the case to the first-instance court. It found that the charges contained all the elements of the offence and that it was not necessary to include the circumstances showing that the injured party had actually felt endangered.
13.  At the Piran Local Court’s hearing of 10 April 2009 the applicant gave testimony. He denied that the alleged incident had taken place, submitting, inter alia, that he and R.H. were in dispute over the division of the house in which they lived, and that the prosecution authorities were not functioning as they should. He also said that neither the inspection of the site of the alleged offence nor an examination of video surveillance footage had been done although they would have proved that he had not committed the alleged offence. Furthermore, the applicant denied that he had prevented the cleaning lady from entering the courtyard and that she must have had the wrong key. The applicant requested that the prosecution obtain a statement from D.Č. who could testify to the fact that R.H. had regularly influenced witnesses so that they had given false testimonies. The applicant requested that D.Č. be examined at the hearing as well, and explained that this evidence would have undermined the credibility of R.H., whose testimony was the only prosecution evidence in the case.
14.  The Court also examined R.H. who stated that the cleaning lady had on the day of the incident told him that the applicant had not allowed her to enter the courtyard. According to R.H., he had then taken the rubbish out himself at which point he had met the applicant. R.H. had suspected that the applicant had disconnected the outdoor sliding door and for that reason argued with him at which point the applicant had threatened him. R.H. was asked by the prosecutor whether he had told anyone about the offence to which R.H. replied that he had told K.C., but maybe also the cleaning lady and the gardener (P.P.). As regards K.C. he could not remember where he had told him and how. R.H. also stated that he did not know if anyone had witnessed the incident and that he had not stored the video surveillance footage but that this would have in any event not have shown the incident as it had happened out of the cameras’ field of vision. R.H. also stated that D.Č. was not to be believed as he was a drug addict and a criminal.
15.  The Court allowed the evidence by witness K.C. and P.P. and D.Č.’s written statement of 30 November 2008. The latter, which was read out at the hearing of 3 July 2009 (see paragraph 16 below), read, as far as relevant, as follows:
“The undersigned, ... declare that ...[R.H]. ... had been using his influence to obtain false testimony against Marino Poropat in many cases.
 
... [R. H.] offered me 10,000 euros [EUR] to find a person in Croatia who would be prepared to kill Marino Poropat.
...”
16.  At the hearing of 3 July 2009, P.P. did not attend. However, K.C. attended and was examined as a witness. He said that he did not know why he had been summoned to testify but, further to the question by the applicant’s counsel, confirmed that he had spent ten minutes with R.H. in a bar before attending that hearing. He denied that he had been instructed to testify against the applicant. In his testimony he also said that R.H. had called him after the incident of 13 February 2004 and told him that the applicant had said that he had bought a gun and would end this. The applicant stated that K.C. was not to be believed as he had been previously reported to police because of alleged false testimony. He requested that D.Č. be examined as a witness with regard to K.C.’s and R.H.’s credibility as he could testify to the fact that there had been “more such false statements”. D.Č.’s statement had been read out at the hearing, however the court refused to hear evidence from him, finding that the facts had been sufficiently established. It also found it unnecessary to hear evidence from P.P. At the hearing, the applicant’s representative pointed out that the applicant and R.H. had been opposing parties in a number of civil and criminal proceedings. He also drew attention to the fact that the police had not found any evidence to prosecute the applicant and submitted that that the charges had been based on two statements of unreliable witnesses, namely the injured party and K.C.
17.  On 3 July 2009 the Piran Local Court found the applicant guilty and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment, suspended. It noted that the applicant had contested the credibility of R.H. and K.C., to whom the court referred as R.H.’s work colleague (sodelavec), because the former had been in several legal disputes with him and because the latter had been reported to the police for false testimony on several occasions. However, the court concluded that this had not undermined their credibility and that it was proved on the basis of the evidence given by R.H. and K.C. that the applicant had threatened the former by referring to the fact that he had bought a gun and that the threat had caused fear in R.H. The court also found the applicant’s argument that the whole incident had been made up unpersuasive. It explained that it had not questioned P.P. and D.Č. as the facts had been sufficiently established and further stated the following reasons for the dismissal of the applicant’s application to have the evidence examined:
“...the court did not hear evidence from D.Č. because nothing can be deduced from his written statement that would refer to the incident which is the subject of [the present] proceedings. Also the inspection of the site and a reconstruction of the events were not performed, since the manner how the incident occurred and moreover the content of the words said can already be established from the other evidence produced.”
18.  On 9 September 2009 the applicant lodged an appeal relying on, inter alia, Article 6 § 3 (d) of the Convention. He complained about the court’s refusal to hear D.Č., stressing that the court should have taken into account the numerous proceedings to which the applicant and R.H. had been party and that it should therefore have shown more prudence when giving credence to the statements of K.C., who had been testifying for the benefit of R.H. in almost all of these proceedings. He further alleged that the court should have doubted the credibility of K.C. on account of the fact that R.H. had mentioned his conversation with K.C. only six years after the incident, that is to say after the applicant had initially been acquitted in the first set of proceedings. He also noted that, despite the fact that the whole grounds of the house had been under video surveillance, R.H. had not provided video footage to prove that he and the applicant had actually met on the relevant day, which the applicant had denied.
19.  On 6 January 2010 the applicant became aware of the opening of a criminal judicial investigation against K.C. in respect of the offence of aiding the attack on him in 1999. It would appear that no charges were eventually brought in this connection and the applicant instituted civil proceeding against the State, claiming compensation for non-pecuniary damage due to the infringement of his personal rights caused by the ineffective criminal investigation. On 29 May 2014 the Constitutional Court decided that the attack had not been duly investigated and that this had amounted to an infringement of the procedural aspects of the applicant’s rights to personal dignity and safety (Article 34 of the Constitution) and the inviolability of his physical and mental integrity (Article 35 of the Constitution).
20.  In the meantime, on 3 February 2010, the Koper Higher Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It observed that the rights of the defence had not been violated by the refusal to hear evidence from D.Č. or to obtain other evidence and that the first-instance court had given sufficient reasons in this respect.
21.  On 15 February 2010 the applicant lodged an application for the protection of legality with the Supreme Court. He repeated the arguments advanced before the lower courts, in particular that D.Č. could have testified to the hostile relationship between the applicant and R.H. and about the latter’s influence on witnesses and should have therefore been given an opportunity to testify. He further referred to the fact that in the meantime criminal proceedings had been opened against K.C. in respect of the 1999 attack against him (see paragraph 19 above). He argued that this confirmed his allegations that K.C. could not be considered a reliable witness.
22.  On 12 April 2010 in a separate set of civil proceedings to which R.H. and the applicant were party, D.Č. testified that he had been a long term friend of R.H. He further stated that he had witnessed R.H. influencing witnesses in order to obtain statements against the applicant. He also stated that R.H. had threatened and insulted the applicant almost every time he had met him and the latter had always avoided a confrontation with R.H.
23.  On 17 June 2010 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicant’s claim for the protection of legality. As regards D.Č., it noted that this witness could presumably testify to the hostile relationship between the applicant and R.H. and about the latter’s influencing of witness but not about the actual incident which was the subject of the present proceedings. As to the applicant’s reference to an investigation against K.C. (see paragraph 21 above), the Supreme Court found that this argument was of a factual nature and could not therefore be successfully pursued in an appeal on points of law.
24.  On 30 August 2010 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint. He reiterated his arguments concerning non-admission of evidence and in addition referred to the testimony given by D.Č. on 12 April 2010 (see paragraph 22 above).
25.  On 25 October 2011 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant’s constitutional complaint, referring to section 55.b of the Constitutional Court Act (see paragraph 33 below).
26.  On 30 August 2010 the applicant applied to have the above criminal proceedings against him reopened on the basis of the evidence adduced at the hearing of 12 February 2010 (see paragraph 22 above) and requested that D.Č. be examined as a witness. In particular D.Č. had stated that he had been R.H.’s friend and the applicant therefore argued that it would have been unusual for R.H. not to tell D.Č. about the incident with the applicant. He moreover referred to D.Č.’s statement that the applicant had always avoided R.H. and argued that his testimony would have confirmed his defence.
27.  Further to the instruction by the judge who had been allocated the reopening application, another judge examined D.Č. on 28 June 2011 in the presence of the applicant. D.Č. testified that he had been a friend of R.H. in 2004 and had been in daily contact with him but did not remember if R.H. had told him if he had been threatened by the applicant. He further stated, among other things, that he did not remember the events of 13 February 2004 but that there had been many incidents in which the applicant and R.H. had met in front of the house and R.H. had threatened and insulted the applicant. He had witnessed many of their quarrels there but had never seen the applicant threatening or insulting R.H. When confronted with R.H. the applicant had always withdrawn. D.Č. further stated that he had seen R.H. influencing witnesses but would not be able to tell in which cases as there had been more than twenty sets of proceedings involving R.H. and most of them had been directed against the applicant. He further affirmed that he had himself been asked to falsely testify and said that that matter was pending before the courts. Lastly, D.Č. testified that R.H. had had two guns when he had moved into the house.
28.  On 16 August 2011 the Piran Local Court rejected the applicant’s application for reopening finding that D.Č. had not directly observed the incident leading to the applicant’s conviction but could only testify to R.H.’s influencing of witnesses and the nature of the relationship between the applicant and R.H. The court found that these facts had already been known to the trial court, which had refused to hear D.Č. as a witness. The court also had regard to the fact that the Koper Higher Court as well as the Supreme Court had examined the applicant’s request to hear D.Č.
29.  The applicant’s appeal against the above decision was dismissed on 14 December 2011 by the Higher Court. The latter noted, first, that D.Č.’s testimony had not brought to light any new facts directly relating to the criminal offence for which the applicant had been convicted and, second, that the applicant had already attempted to prove R.H.’s had influenced witnesses and that his request to that effect had been rejected by the courts during the criminal proceedings, including by the Supreme Court, which meant that this could not be considered as new evidence.
30.  The applicant lodged an application for the protection of legality. On 26 April 2012 the Supreme Court dismissed the application, endorsing the conclusion of the lower courts that D.Č.’s testimony was “an irrelevant piece of evidence as [D.Č.] could not tell [the court] anything concrete about the criminal offence of threatening security considered [by the court] because he had not directly witnessed it.” The Supreme Court further found that the Higher Court had rightly pointed out that D.Č.’s testimony could also not have been considered as new evidence.