The alleged lawsuit demands 3.5 billion dollars from Croatia as compensation for damages from the Second World War.
Jonathan Levy, a lawyer with the Brimstone & Co. law firm in Washington, said that the private lawsuit which was filed by the victims of the Second World War and their descendants against Croatia in a court in Illinois was “invalid”, reports Index.hr on March 16, 2017, quoting a report by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network BIRN.
As confirmed by the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, victims of the Second World War and their descendants demand from Croatia 3.5 billion dollars for stolen property and suffering during World War II, which were caused by the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi puppet state.
The lawsuit against Croatia has been allegedly submitted by descendants of Croatian Serbs, Jews and Roma – Lizabeth Lalich, Mladen Djuricich, Robert Predrag Gakovich, Veljko Miljus, Bogdan Kljaic, David Levy and Daniel Pyevich.
However, American attorney Jonathan Levy forwarded us a letter which was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which he states that he is the legal representative of Lalic and Kljajic as part of their lawsuit against the Vatican, in connection with the money that was taken from the Ustasha regime. He added that Lalich and Kljajic had no information about the lawsuit filed against Croatia.
“This is notice that the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois was filed without consent of the plaintiffs and is invalid for reasons of identity theft and fraud upon the court”, writes Levy.
“I represent plaintiffs Lalich and Kljaic and they had no knowledge this lawsuit had been filed in their names and have no relationship with the attorneys involved. Further at least three and perhaps more of the named plaintiffs were deceased at the time the lawsuit was filed in May 2016. The others likely have no knowledge of it either”, continues Levy.
“They have no desire to sue Croatia which is the successor state to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under international law and instead are participating in the Ustasha Treasury claims process with the Vatican which we hope Croatia will now support. After World War 2, elements at the Vatican sponsored the exile government of Ante Pavelić and arranged for transfer of the Ustasha Treasury to the Vatican Bank. I will gladly execute an affidavit at the Croatian embassy in Washington to the truth of this matter and will take all necessary measures to quash this invalid lawsuit apparently filed for monetary reasons. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the matter of the Ustasha Treasury claims with the Foreign Ministry. An accounting of this claim is long overdue and must be completed to obtain closure”, wrote Levy in his letter sent to the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
