ZAGREB, April 26 (Hina) - The regulation binding the state to compensate citizens for their property damaged in terrorist actions, which was put out of force in 1996, will soon be re-introduced in the Croatian legal system, Justice
Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic said after meeting the president of the European Human Rights Court, Luzius Wildhaber, and a Croat judge working at the court, Nina Vajic.
ZAGREB, April 26 (Hina) - The regulation binding the state to
compensate citizens for their property damaged in terrorist
actions, which was put out of force in 1996, will soon be re-
introduced in the Croatian legal system, Justice Minister Ingrid
Anticevic Marinovic said after meeting the president of the
European Human Rights Court, Luzius Wildhaber, and a Croat judge
working at the court, Nina Vajic. #L#
The Croatian government will in May forward into parliamentary
procedure a bill re-introducing the regulation binding the state to
compensate citizens for damage to their property caused by
terrorist actions, the minister said.
Wildhaber commended the government's quick response to a verdict
passed by the Strasbourg court in the case of the Kutic family,
which was unable to obtain compensation for their house which was
blown up and which was outside the war-affected areas due to the
non-existence of said regulation.
Up to ten thousand houses, belonging mostly to Serb citizens, were
destroyed in the areas that were not directly affected by war, non-
government associations have estimated.
The minister said that a lack of funds was the main reason why the
cancelled regulation had not been re-introduced earlier.
It will be difficult to find the funding, but citizens should have
the right to seek compensation before domestic courts for damage
that was caused by the violence which the state should have
protected them from, the minister said.
Wildhaber said that of the seven verdicts that had been passed
against Croatia, two referred to court inaccessibility, including
the Kutic complaint, while five referred to the too long court
trials.
He warned that most of the 250 complaints filed against Croatia this
year referred to the procrastinated trials. Croatia is not an
exception with regard to the large number of complaints,
particularly those filed due to long trials, Wildhaber said, adding
that citizens from more than a half of Council of Europe member-
countries filed complaints due to the same reason.
(hina) rml sb