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Croatia Threatened with Lawsuit by WWII Victims
Balkan Insight ^ | March 20, 2017 | Sven Milekic

Posted on 03/20/2017 3:09:52 PM PDT by Ravnagora

Croatia has been threatened with a lawsuit if it doesn’t support victims of the WWII fascist Ustasa movement in their claims for reparations - although one expert doubted Zagreb would back the case.

Ustasa guards stripping prisoners before they enter the Jasenovac concentration camp. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

US lawyer Jonathan Levy said on Monday that he will lay charges against Croatia if it fails to back claims against the Vatican Bank made by victims of the Croatian WWII fascist Ustasa movement.

Certain people in the Vatican allegedly sponsored the exiled Ustasa government after WWII and helped to transfer parts of its treasury – partly created from wealth taken from Serbs, Jews and Roma – to the Vatican Bank.

Levy took the ‘Ustasa treasury’ case to the US courts, but lost in 2010, with judges concluding that they had no jurisdiction over the matter.

He has now appealed to the Croatian government’s newly-formed Council for Dealing with Consequences of the Rule of Non-Democratic Regimes, asking it to support the Ustasa victims.

Levy claimed in his appeal that Croatia “has done nothing tangible to aid the Ustasa victims and their families in obtaining an accounting of the Ustasa treasury”, but has given former Ustasa soldiers state pensions for their war merits.

The director of the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Efraim Zuroff warned Croatia in May 2015 that these pensions to former Ustasa troops were an insult to victims of Croatia’s wartime pro-German regime.

According to the Croatian pension insurance institute, in 2013 Zagreb paid out pensions to 13,000 former soldiers and policemen of the Ustasa-led Nazi-aligned puppet state Independent State of Croatia, NDH.

Levy said that if the new Council did not support the victims, he will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, and inform the European Commission and the European Parliament.

“Should the Council which is the highest organ of the Croatian government with jurisdiction over the Ustasa legacy fail to act, legal action will be commenced under European legal regimes seeking compensation and/or an order compelling Croatia to cease its illegal discrimination against the victims of the Ustasa,” he wrote.

He claimed that by paying pensions to former NDH troops from 1993 onwards, the government “has been discriminating against victims of the Ustasa”, notably Serbs, Jews and Roma, as well as against anti-fascists.

Levy asked Croatia to stop “its illegal discrimination against Ustasa victims and their families and take positive actions to assist them in recovery and accounting of the Ustasa treasury”.

He said Zagreb should call for “a conference of the responsible parties including Germany, Italy, the Vatican and the United States and request an accounting of the Ustasa treasury from the Vatican”.

But Ante Nobilo, an experienced lawyer in international humanitarian law, told BIRN that he believed there was no great threat of a lawsuit against Croatia.

“But it’s also a fact that this puts Croatia in an unpleasant situation. In principle, Croatia would have to be interested in its WWII Ustasa victims – regardless of their religion and nationality – exercising their right to get back their assets, if it’s correct that they ended up in the Vatican Bank and if there is relevant evidence supporting the fact,” Nobilo said.

However, he emphasised that it “can’t be expected that Croatia will support such a claim” if it thinks there is not sufficient evidence to support the allegations.

Nobilo argued that although “this may be seen as a provocation, it’s a provocation Croatia asked for”, because of its lenient approach towards the legacy of the NDH, or by paying pensions to former NDH soldiers.

He also argued that there is no legal basis for paying these pensions, not only because “Croatia isn’t NDH’s successor, but also since Yugoslavia was occupied during WWII and occupation, according to international law, doesn’t change previous intra-state affairs”.

Levy also told BIRN last week that a separate 3.2 billion euro lawsuit against Croatia for property seized by its Nazi-allied WWII regime was ‘invalid’ because it was filed without the consent of the plaintiffs.

The Ustasa movement targeted Serbs, Jews and Roma, by killing them, sending them to Croatia-based and Nazi German camps, and by confiscating their property and belongings.

___________________________________


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: croatia; genocide; jasenovac; wwii

1 posted on 03/20/2017 3:09:53 PM PDT by Ravnagora
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To: joan; Smartass; zagor-te-nej; Lion in Winter; Honorary Serb; jb6; Incorrigible; DTA; vooch; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 03/20/2017 3:10:39 PM PDT by Ravnagora
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To: Ravnagora

So.. some folks want money for something that happened to their grandparents?


3 posted on 03/20/2017 3:15:26 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: Ravnagora
However, he emphasised that it “can’t be expected that Croatia will support such a claim” if it thinks there is not sufficient evidence to support the allegations.

Let's start a lawsuit because of a rumor with no supporting evidence because "it is not the nature of the evidence but the seriousness of the charges." Where have we seen this before?

4 posted on 03/20/2017 3:30:19 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: humblegunner

About half the people on the planet are scheming to get a free ride in life.


5 posted on 03/20/2017 3:30:53 PM PDT by Farmer Dean ("Do you want me to shoot,I'm rested.")
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To: Ravnagora

The Ustasha were some very evil people. Things they did to captives at Jasenovac concentration camp were demonic.


6 posted on 03/20/2017 5:11:34 PM PDT by cweese (Hook 'em Horns!!!)
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To: Ravnagora

It is over. The reachback will eventually re-inspire the slavery idiots.


7 posted on 03/20/2017 5:27:57 PM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: humblegunner

750,000 innocents were murdered at Jasenovac

they also had their property stolen

the lawsuit is for the stolen property to be returned to the heirs.


8 posted on 03/20/2017 7:20:27 PM PDT by vooch
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To: vooch
750,000 innocents were murdered at Jasenovac they also had their property stolen the lawsuit is for the stolen property to be returned to the heirs.

Two points of fact that can be litigated, except one wishes to embrace Holocaust denial and pretend it never happened.
9 posted on 03/20/2017 7:36:07 PM PDT by af_vet_1981 (The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began.)
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To: cweese

Even the Nazis had to tell the Ustashe to lighten up.


10 posted on 03/20/2017 7:56:14 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: humblegunner

You don’t have a clue who the Ustashi are, humbleclueless.


11 posted on 03/20/2017 9:08:17 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: Petrosius; Farmer Dean; cweese; SgtHooper; af_vet_1981; dfwgator; vooch; LucyT; Liz; ...
Ustaše soldiers sawing off the head of Branko Jungic, an ethnic Serb from the village of Grabovac near Bosanska Gradiška.


12 posted on 03/20/2017 10:15:26 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

Ustasha murderer holding the severed head of his Serbian victim.

13 posted on 03/20/2017 10:29:00 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson
You should read the article before you post replies. The lawsuit, and my objection to the article, is not about the actions of the Ustasa but an attempt to force the Croatian government to support claims against the Vatican Bank:
US lawyer Jonathan Levy said on Monday that he will lay charges against Croatia if it fails to back claims against the Vatican Bank made by victims of the Croatian WWII fascist Ustasa movement.

Certain people in the Vatican allegedly sponsored the exiled Ustasa government after WWII and helped to transfer parts of its treasury – partly created from wealth taken from Serbs, Jews and Roma – to the Vatican Bank.

This claim is based purely on rumors, speculation and propaganda. Do not be fooled, it is not about justice for the victims but an attempt to begger the Catholic Church and further the myth that the Vatican was complicit in the activities of the Ustasa. But again, I guess it is not about the nature of the evidence but about the seriousness of the charges.
14 posted on 03/21/2017 5:00:48 AM PDT by Petrosius
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

15 posted on 03/21/2017 5:15:56 AM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do !)
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To: Petrosius

“This claim is based purely on rumors, speculation and propaganda.”

The above statement is false.

Because you wish something not to be true doesn’t make it so.


16 posted on 03/21/2017 6:10:41 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: humblegunner; Farmer Dean

Mene mene tekhel upharsim.


17 posted on 03/21/2017 2:04:52 PM PDT by Silentgypsy (Mind your atomic bonds.)
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To: Ravnagora
>>>>>>>Levy took the ‘Ustasa treasury’ case to the US courts, but lost in 2010, with judges concluding that they had no jurisdiction over the matter.<<<<<<<<

The case was interesting from a legal stanpoint. Legal counsel to Vatican State (and Holy See) actually admitted that Vatican supported slaugher of Serbs, Jews and Roma, that amounted to genocide due to INTENT TO DESTROY GROUP AS SOUCH, but said that at that time (1941-45) Vatican support was not against the international law since UN Genocide convention came into effect in 1948.

That means that The 10 Commandments, especially DO NOT KILL and DO NOT WISH WHAT IS NOT YOURS does not mean anything to the Holy See, Roman Catholic Church and Vatican State.

In WWII Croatia, over 1300 clegry out of 2000 took an active role in mass murder.

Only one Franciscan, Petar Brzica slaughtered more than 1400 people in a single day. It was a bet with another mass murdererer, who slaughtered less.

This was only one day in Roman Catholic dominated Croatia, fully supported by the Vatican state.

After the war, Vatican activelly supoported exfiltration of mass murderers and their loot through "Vatican ratlines", stretching from Vatican City to South America.

Compared to the mass murder commited by the Roman Catholic Church in South America and Indochina, this is only a sordid episode, however, an important one. Vatican ADMITTED supporting it.

18 posted on 03/21/2017 6:19:01 PM PDT by DTA (Drain the swamp)
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To: DTA

Croatia's Hitler Ante Pavelic and Pius XII Nuncio Marcone


19 posted on 03/21/2017 6:23:34 PM PDT by DTA (Drain the swamp)
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To: DTA
Croatia's Himmler Andrija Artukovic and Vatican Nunzio Ramiro Marcone


20 posted on 03/21/2017 6:25:18 PM PDT by DTA (Drain the swamp)
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