FOGLI DI LAVORO per il Diritto internazionale 3 ... - Giurisprudenza

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FOGLI DI LAVORO per il Diritto internazionale 3/2008
the recommendations made in the final report of the expert
commission on “so-called sects and psycho-cults” (see § 32,
above) in 1998, refrained from using the terms under dispute in
its information campaign.
2. The remaining applicant associations' submissions
56. According to the applicant associations, the excessive
length of the proceedings before the Federal Constitutional
Court was a result of a structural deficiency. That court had been
overburdened since as early as the late 1970s, as was established
in the Court's earlier case-law. The applicant associations
contested the claim that the Federal Constitutional Court had
taken adequate steps to amend the Constitutional Court's chronic
overburden either before or after reunification. While the
majority of the cases had been dealt with expeditiously, this was
not the case for the more important ones which were decided by
the full chamber. They further considered that the majority of
the cases which had, according to the Government, been granted
priority over their case, had also lasted an excessively long time.
There had been, furthermore, no sufficient reasons to grant those
cases priority over the applicant associations' complaint.
57. As regarded the complexity of the subject matter, the
applicant associations considered that it was complex, but not
extraordinarily so. In any event, it was the Federal
Constitutional Court's task to decide on complex constitutional
issues and this could not justify the excessive length of the
proceedings.
58. As regarded the applicant associations' own conduct,
they alleged that they had refrained from replying immediately
to the Government's submissions after a competent staff member
of the Constitutional Court had informed them that the
complaint would not be dealt with for years. Further
submissions had been necessitated by new developments and
could have been avoided if the court had processed the case in
due time. The extent of these submissions had been justified by
the complexity of the case.
3. Assessment by the Court