The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a lawsuit by three Croatians against Slovenia for withholding their foreign currency savings stored in the Ljubljanska bank.

Local media report that the court's judges unanimously confirmed their decision from 2006, explaining that in the meantime two of the plaintiffs had been paid, while the third one had also filed a suit before a Croatian court.

There are approximately 130 000 Croatian citizens who had savings at the Slovenia-based Ljubljanska bank before the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

When the former socialist republics became independent states, the bank refused to give them their savings, which are estimated at 172 million euro, not including interest.

The plaintiffs sued Slovenia invoking the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to private ownership. They also claimed that the bank discriminated against Croatian citizens by refusing to pay them their savings in the Zagreb offices of the Ljubljanska bank, while the same was done for citizens of Slovenia.

However, Croatia's Justice Minister Ana Lovrin explained that the decision of the European Court of Human Rights does not mean that the case against the Lubljanska bank is closed.

"The court believes that it does have the authority to decide on the issue, but recommends that the problem be solved in the framework of the succession negotiations between the two states," local media quoted her as saying.

Lovrin also said that the fundamental question on whether Slovenia interfered in the private legal relationship between the bank and the depositors has not been answered with this latest court decision.

Source: BalkanInsight.com