In
the wake of the acquittals of Generals Gotovina and Markac by the ICTY, Serbian
nationalists like Savo Strbac have turned their attention to a lawsuit filed in
federal district court in Chicago by a group of “Krajina” Serbs against the
American company MPRI (Military Professional Resources, Inc.). Strbac has made several false claims in the
media about this lawsuit, including his claims that the court in Chicago has
accepted jurisdiction in the case, and that the trial is set to start next
year. [1]
First,
it must be emphasized that the MPRI case has been frozen by order of the Court
since December 1, 2011. The Court in
Chicago is waiting for the United States Supreme Court to decide the case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. ,
where the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether United States courts have
jurisdiction to hear cases like the one filed by the “Krajina” Serbs. Therefore, nothing of any substance has
happened in the Chicago case for over one year.
It is entirely possible that as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling
in Kiobel (likely to be issued in the
next four to six months), the claim filed by the “Krajina” Serbs will be
dismissed.
Second,
MPRI has moved to dismiss the complaint filed by the “Krajina” Serbs because,
amongst other things, the complaint was filed outside of the ten year Statute
of Limitations. The “Krajina” Serbs had
ten years to file their lawsuit, i.e. no later than August 4, 2005 (ten years
from the beginning of Operation Storm).
The “Krajina” Serbs however waited until August 17, 2010 to file their
claim, which was more than five years after the Statute of Limitations expired.
MPRI has asked the Court to dismiss the case, but this motion has not yet been
decided because the Court froze the entire case on December 1, 2011 in order to
wait for a ruling from the Supreme Court in the Kiobel
case.
Accordingly,
the following points should be kept in mind:
1.
The Court in Chicago has NOT decided that it has jurisdiction to adjudicate the
complaint filed by the Krajina Serbs.
The question of jurisdiction is first being addressed by the United States
Supreme Court in the Kiobel case;
2.
The court in Chicago has frozen the entire case
filed by the “Krajina” Serbs since December 1, 2011, and nothing of any substance
has happened in the case for over one year;
3.
If the U.S. Supreme Court decides in Kiobel that these types of cases can be
filed in U.S. courts, then MPRI will ask the Court to dismiss the entire case
immediately because the “Krajina” Serbs filed their action five years past the
Statute of Limitations. It is at this
time that the Court will decide whether it has jurisdiction;
4.
Even if the “Krajina” Serbs were able to survive
the Motion to Dismiss that will be filed by MPRI, there is absolutely no chance
that this case is going to trial in 2013, as claimed by Savo Strbac; and
5.
Finally, if the “Krajina” Serbs were able to
survive all of these obstacles and were still able to get this case to a trial,
they will have to prove that the “Krajina” Serbs were the victims of genocide
in Operation Storm, despite the fact that even the Prosecution of the ICTY
never charged Operation Storm as genocide, and the ICTY ultimately concluded
that there was insufficient proof of the existence of a Joint Criminal
Enterprise to persecute and deport the Krajina Serb population. The ICTY acquitted all three Croatian generals, Gotovina, Cermak and Markac, making it exceptionally unlikely that the Court in Chicago will conclude that Operation Storm amounted to genocide.
It is very unlikely that the case filed against MPRI will ever go to trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment