I will be going back to Motovun in a bit more than two weeks, and so I searched the World Wide Web with a simple phrase: “Ranko Bon Motovun.” Anything that could connect me to the hilltown within the last couple of months would pop up among the findings. And so I came upon the decision of the Constitutional Court of Croatia regarding my appeal to the insult case lodged against me by Slobodan Vugrinec six years ago (“Vugrinec versus Bon: A Letter to the President of the Constitutional Court of Croatia Jasna Omejec,” July 18, 2012). I could not believe my eyes. The highest court in the country decided against my appeal on December 11, 2014, but I have not been informed about the decision. In fact, I discovered the verdict purely by chance. I immediately forwarded the document to my lawyer via electronic mail, and then I sent him a mobile-phone text-message about the whole thing. I am still waiting to hear from him, but my head is reeling. What is going on? I have been waiting for years to go to Strasbourg with my final appeal, but I have missed three whole months because of the fact that I have not been informed about the fate of my appeal with the Constitutional Court of Croatia (“My Four Points for Strasbourg,” December 3, 2014). At any rate, I must hear from my lawyer soon. This miserable country is well beyond me…

Addendum I (March 25, 2015)

So many days later, I am still baffled by my unexpected discovery of the Constitutional Court’s decision about my appeal. I cannot figure out how long it has been on the World Wide Web, but I would assume that it was posted there not more than a month after the decision was made. But why have I not heard about it from the vaunted court or any other court involved in my litigation? The same holds for my lawyer. How much time will have to pass for the decision to officially reach me? The only guess I can make is that the courts in Istria are waiting until my chance to appeal to Strasbourg expires. And that is six months after the Constitutional Court’s decision. If that is the case, I will be notified of the decision soon after June 11, 2015, the deadline. Luckily, I discovered the decision all by myself, which gives me all the time in the world to prepare my appeal to Strasbourg. What does this tell you about the Croatian judicial system, though?

Addendum II (April 3, 2015)

As it turns out, it is my lawyer who has screwed up in this case. My former lawyer, that is (“My Most Sincere Thanks,” April 2, 2015). He called me yesterday, and he was quite miffed with me for releasing him and engaging another lawyer a day earlier. When I asked him point blank whether he had received the decision of the Constitutional Court, he answered that he did. His mother was mortally ill at the time, he explained, but she is still alive. When I asked him why he had not responded to my many phone calls, electronic-mail messages, and letters ever since March 8 of this year, he answered that he was quite ill, albeit not mortally. At my request, an assistant of his brought me today all the documents pertaining to the three cases lodged against me by the former mayor of Motovun, and I learned that the Constitutional Court’s decision had reached my former lawyer on December 29 last year. Having forwarded all the documents to my new lawyer, I cannot but wonder about the old one’s stance in my case. Could it be that he, too, wanted me to miss the deadline for an appeal to Strasbourg? Istria is a small place, after all.

Addendum III (May 17, 2015)

To round off this mindboggling story, I should add that a few people I could trust had told me that my former lawyer had visited Emil Soldatić in Motovun a month or two before I happened to discover the decision of the Constitutional Court of Croatia on the World Wide Web. The former secretary general of the Istrian Democratic Assembly might have found a way to persuade my former lawyer to keep me unaware of the decision until it would be too late for Strasbourg. But I will never learn the truth, it goes without saying.