According to Sarajevo media on Thursday, Moratti said during his visit to the Bosnian capital the case was important because an international court would tackle the issue of tenancy rights, which are denied to many persons who left Croatia during the 1990s war and whose flats were seized and mostly sold.
Moratti said there were some 30,000 cases similar to that of Blecic. She lived in Croatia's Zadar for decades and in 1991 happened to be in Italy. Because of the war which had broken out she was unable to return home for several months and when she did, she found other people occupying her flat.
Blecic's flat was eventually sold and she filed an action before Croatian courts. The action was dismissed and the case was opened before the European Court of Human Rights.
In July this year, this court found that there had been no violation of human rights, but the ICHR appealed the judgement. The appeal was approved and a new hearing will be held before the Grand Chamber.
The ICHR, which represents Blecic, has prepared a detailed analysis of the tenancy rights concept, which is unknown in Western law. According to the analysis, tenancy rights can be interpreted in virtually the same way as ownership rights.