Slovenia lodges ECtHR application against Croatia

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Slovenia lodged the application under article 33 of the European Convention on Human Rights on 15 September 2016.

It concerns the conduct of the judicial and executive authorities of Croatia in relation to the assets and the receivables of bank Ljubljanska banka d.d., a joint stock company incorporated under Slovenian law, and its branch Ljubljanska banka Main Branch Zagreb, in the context of the disintegration of the former socialist Yugoslavia.

According to the Slovenian government, the bank and its Zagreb branch brought proceedings against a number of Croatian companies before the Croatian courts between 1991-96, seeking the repayment of debts contracted in the former Yugoslavia, mainly in the 1980s.

As of 1994, over 80 such legal cases were pending before Croatian courts. The present application covers 26 cases, some of which are still pending, others which have ended in judgments denying the bank an effective locus standi before the courts, and some where judgments favourable to the bank could never be enforced.

The Slovenian government alleges multiple violations of article 6 - the right to a fair trial - of the European Convention.

According to them, Ljubljanska banka was and is a victim of an arbitrary interpretation of Slovenian law by the Croation courts, contrary to the requirements of Croatia’s own conflict rules, thus leading to a constant arbitrary denial of the bank’s locus standi in the respective proceedings.

The government also alleges violations of the bank’s rights under article 1 of protocol no. 1 (peaceful enjoyment of possessions), article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and article 13 (right to an effective remedy).