DISABLED WWII, HOMELAND WAR VETERANS GIVEN EQUAL RIGHT OF DISCOUNT WHEN BUYING FLAT

ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - The Croatian Constitutional Court has quashed rulings of the Supreme Court and the Rijeka County Court, ordering a retrial in the case of a disabled World War II veteran holding tenancy rights who sought a discount when buying a flat. The Supreme Court and the Rijeka County Court previously ruled that only the victims of the 1991-1995 Homeland War had the right to a discount when buying flats.#L# The two courts had previously changed a verdict of the Rijeka Municipal Court from 1996 which rejected an attempt by the State Prosecution to challenge the lawfulness of an annex to a 1994 agreement granting disabled WWII veterans with tenancy rights a discount when buying flats. The Rijeka Court Court and the Supreme Court ruled that the annex could be signed only with Homeland War victims, but not WWII victims because the definition of a disabled war veteran was narrowed down with one of the numerous changes to the legislation regulating the sale of flats. The Constitutional Court ruled that the status of a disabled war veteran is defined with a provision of the Law on the Protection of Military and Civil War Invalids which states that the status of a disabled war veteran is granted to a person with minimum 20-percent disability caused by wounds or injuries sustained during the Homeland War, as well as WWII. (Hina) rml