26
MAGYAR KÉTFARKÚ KUTYA PÁRT v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
B. The parties’ submissions
1. The Government
50. The Government objected before the Grand Chamber that the
applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies in the form of the
constitutional complaint provided for in section 26(2) of the Constitutional
Court Act (“the CCA”), through which the MKKP could have argued before
the Constitutional Court that the Kúria had applied legislation which was in
contravention of the Fundamental Law. The Government further submitted
that although the MKKP had lodged a complaint under section 27 of the
CCA against the Kúria’s decisions, and had thus formally exhausted that
option, it had not established its direct interest in the case, which was a
precondition of admissibility under domestic law.
2. The MKKP
51. The MKKP did not comment on this issue.
C. The Court’s assessment
52. The Court reiterates first of all that under Article 35 § 1 it may only
deal with a matter after all domestic remedies have been exhausted.
Applicants must have provided the domestic courts with the opportunity, in
principle intended to be afforded to Contracting States, of preventing or
putting right the violations alleged against them. That rule is based on the
assumption that there is an effective remedy available in the domestic
system in respect of the alleged breach. The only remedies which
Article 35 § 1 requires to be exhausted are those that relate to the breach
alleged and are capable of redressing the alleged violation. The existence of
such remedies must be sufficiently certain not only in theory but also in
practice, failing which they will lack the requisite accessibility and
effectiveness: it falls to the respondent State to establish that these
conditions are satisfied (see, among many other authorities, McFarlane
v. Ireland [GC], no. 31333/06, § 107, 10 September 2010; Vučković and
Others v. Serbia (preliminary objection) [GC], nos. 17153/11 and 29 others,
§§ 69-77, 25 March 2014; and Parrillo v. Italy [GC], no. 46470/11, § 87,
ECHR 2015).
53. In several cases the Court has considered that domestic remedies
were exhausted for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention despite
the fact that the applicant’s constitutional complaint had been dismissed as
inadmissible, as the substance of the complaint had been sufficiently raised
before the Constitutional Court (see, inter alia, Gäfgen v. Germany [GC],
no. 22978/05, § 144, ECHR 2010; see also Uhl v. Germany (dec.),
no. 64387/01, 6 May 2004; Storck v. Germany, (dec.), no. 61603/00,