The ECHR on Tuesday delivered its judgment in the case of three nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Macedonia who had asked the court to determine the liability of the respondent states for failure to pay old foreign-currency savings to clients of the Sarajevo branch of Ljubljanska Banka and the Tuzla branch of Investbanka for years.

Slovenia and Serbia were found to be in breach of Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the Convention (protection of property) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).

The two countries were given six months from the date on which the court's judgment becomes final to allow the applicants and all others in their position to be paid back their old foreign-currency savings under the same conditions as those who had such savings in domestic branches of Slovenian and Serbian banks.

The ECHR said that its judgment should serve as a model for other similar cases in which private depositors in the territory of the former Yugoslavia were suing successor states over old foreign-currency savings. The court said that more than 1,650 similar applications were pending before it, involving more than 8,000 applicants.

Today's judgment is not final as the parties have three months to file an appeal with the ECHR Grand Chamber. If such a request is made, a panel of five judges considers whether the case deserves further examination. If the referral case is refused, the judgment will become final on that day.

According to Slovenian news agency STA, the court also ordered Slovenia and Serbia to cover court costs, but dismissed the claims by the applicants that they were discriminated against on grounds of nationality.

The news was also confirmed by the legal representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the EHCR, Monika Mijic, in Sarajevo on Tuesday.