Public statement

The European Court of Human Rights today issued a judgment against the Republic of Slovenia in favor of a group of applicants who, on 4 July 2006, filed an application complaining about their unlawful “erasure” from the registry of permanent residence in 1992 soon after the Slovenia’s declaration of independence.

The decision of the Strasbourg Court is a victory of an immense importance for the community of 25.000 people who have been victims of the erasure, which comes at the end of a time-consuming series of domestic and international procedures undertaken with a view to redress the situation.

In the case – which since the death of the first applicant Milan Makuc in 2008 is titled Kurić and others vs. Slovenia – the Court found a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which guarantees the right to respect for private and family life, and a violation of Article 13 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to effective remedy. The Court did not find a violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 (prohibition of discrimination in relation to the protection of private and family life). In line of its findings, the Court ordered the Republic of Slovenia to “secure to the applicants the right to a private and/or family life and effective remedies in this respect” through “appropriate general and individual measures”. The court also did not yet decide on the applicants’ claim for compensation, which means that in relation to compensation claims the procedure before the Strasbourg Court will continue

The applicants – eleven erased people – were represented by Mr. Anton Giulio Lana and Mr. Andrea Saccucci, attorneys from an Italian Rome-based law office (Studio Lana-Lagostena Bassi). The 100-page application was prepared by the two attorneys and by researchers and volunteer activists, among them Uršula Lipovec Čebron, Sara Pistotnik and Roberto Pignoni. In addition, in this case four NGOs have intervened as third parties – Peace Institute and Legal-information centre for non-governmental organizations – PIC from Ljubljana, Open Society Justice Initiative from New York, and Equal Rights Trust from London, as well as Republic of Serbia.

This unanimous decision of the Court marks a crucial success which goes even beyond the numerous decisions adopted in the latest years by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia in favor of the erased and opens the way to further course of actions to restore justice once and for all.

For more information please contact:
Andrea Saccucci, Studio Lana-Lagostena Bassi, + 39 33 56 879 892   
Uršula Lipovec Čebron, ursula.lipovec@gmail.com, 031 323 737
Neža Kogovšek, Peace Institute, neza.kogovsek@mirovni-institut.si, 031 738 910

Signatories of the press release:
Studio Lana-Lagostena Bassi
Peace Institute
Amnesty International Slovenije
Civil Initiative of Erased Activists
Ursula Lipovec Čebron, Sara Pistotnik and Roberto Pignoni

Statement (.doc)
Judgement, Strasbourg, 13 July 2010 (.doc)