HUMAN RIGHTS COURT TO DEAL WITH CLAIMS BY 3 LJUBLJANSKA BANKA CLIENTS FROM CROATIA

ZAGREB, April 8 (Hina) - The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has declared itself competent to deal with claims by three Croatian clients of Slovenia's Ljubljanska Banka, who seven years ago sued Slovenia for preventing them to claim back their savings deposits in the bank, the Croatian Justice Ministry said on Thursday.#L# The decision which declared the claims by the three Croatian clients admissible was passed on April 1, and the Croatian government's representative at the Strasbourg-based court, Lidija Lukina Karajakovic, was notified of it today. The Strasbourg court will decide about the merit of the claims and if it establishes that the clients' rights were violated, Slovenia will have to take steps to ensure the payment of the claims, the ministry said. In 2001 Croatia used its rights and became involved in the proceedings at the Strasbourg court on the side of the clients through its representative Lukina Karajakovic. Both countries then stated their positions to the court and last October the first verbal hearing was held. Officials at the Croatian justice ministry say the court's decision does not mean that the case is solved, but that it is very important because by passing it the court dismissed as many as eight preliminary objections from the Slovene side. Slovenia, which is represented by the Paris-based Stein and Hamilton law firm in the case, tried to challenge the court's jurisdiction over the case with all legal means. It claimed that the issue of savings deposited with the Ljubljanska Banka during the time of the former Yugoslavia was primarily an issue of succession to the former federation and therefore did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg court. (Hina) rml sb