Organizations

American Owners of Property in Slovenia
is a group of United States citizens with property interests in Slovenia who are trying to obtain restitution of or compensation for their property under the legislation enacted in Slovenia in 1991/1992.
Members of its Executive Committee are:

Dr. Vladislav Bevc
P.O.Box 561
San Ramon, California 94583
Tel: (925) 837-7612
Fax:(925) 362-9719 or (508) 267-0555;

Dr. Edi Gobetz
Slovenian Research Center of America
Willoughby Hills, Ohio
Tel. (214) 944 7237
Fax: (216) 944-0461

Mr. Borut Prah
Oakland, California,
Tel: (510) 486-1500
Fax: (510) 486 1511
Mrs. Vida Ribnikar
San Francisco, California.
American Owners of Property in Slovenia is affiliated with the:

Združenje lastnikov razlašćenega premoženja
(Association of Owners of Expropriated Property)
Adamić Lundrovo Nabrežje 2
P.O. Box 584,
1101 Ljubljana
Slovenia
email info@zlrp-zdruzenje.si

President: Tine Jaklić,
Tel/Fax 011 386 61 302 664.
The Association's objective is to secure restitution of or compensation for expropriated properties and to obtain recognition of property rights as a basic human right in accordance with Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948.

IS.FI.DA
Lega Nazionale D'Istria Fiume Dalmazia
Via A. Cavaliere, 6 - 20153 Milano
Tel./Fax + 39 02 38101057

ILOG
International League of  Victims of Abuse of Power
Germany
e-Mail: info@i-l-o-g.org 
The International League of Victims of Abuse of Power was founded 1999 mainly by European victims of totalitarian governments  inequities as a task force in pursuit of justice, especially focusing  on the mutual recognition of the rule of law and fundamental rights  of private ownership.

The alliance's main objective is to contrive long overdue adequate  legal provisions for those who's property was illegally confiscated  by the aforesaid regimes and who are still being depreciated by the subsequent so called "democratic" governments.

In collaboration with highly reputed legal scholars, supranational and  international institutions along with cooperative interstate  governments the organisation will seek to develop common binding  principles to resolve still pending ownership claims. These  principles will be directed towards reconciling the interest of  individuals or their heirs who were systematically dispossessed of  their property. If necessary compliance with these anticipated rules will be legally enforced.

In concordance with the foundation member's disposition the  International League will be registered as a non-profit organisation  in Cologne (Germany).

In order to achieve the envisaged objectives a petition has apriori  been submitted to the European Parliament. The appeal essentially demands the restitution or equitable compensation of unlawfully  confiscated properties; chattels which were deliberately seized  mainly to victimise people because of their religion, ethnicity,  national or social origin, or opposition to such regimes.

The initiator's request bears reference to international laws,  safeguarding property rights and to recommendations expressed  in the resolutions No. 1096 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the  Council of Europe, No. 19 of the U.S. House of Congress and No.  562 of the U.S. House of Representatives. The latter also solicit the European Union to support this endeavour by implementing analogous  laws.

To be able to accomplish a timely and fair resolution of ownership  claims the association demands that:

1. all existing possession, which were illegally confiscated and do  not serve public use are returned to their legitimate owners;
2. for deteriorated or destroyed belongings an equitable and  immediate market value orientated compensation is paid;
3. only those persons are entitled to restitution or compensation,  who were recognised as a rightful owner in accordance with the law in force of their country of origin before the dispossesions took  place. The same applies to their heirs;
4. in the case a title-holder is dead or otherwise non-traceable, the right of succession passes to specific "associations", e.g.  Privatisation Funds, which redistribute the possessions among  those claimants, who's property can not factually be returned;
5. applicable restitution guidelines are established for the entire  European Community preceding all restrictive national statutes;
6. the assumption of adequate restitution laws is a precondition for all countries which have solicited or seek entrance in the European  Union;
7. the efforts of many formerly totalitarian countries addressing  the complex and difficult question of the status of wrongfully  expropriated are acknowledged; countries which still have not dealt with these issues are urged to  pass and effectively implement without delay restitution or  compensation laws in accordance with principles of justice and in a manner that is just, transparent and fair;
8. the European Union constitutes a commission which gathers,  evaluates and archives all available documentation concerning  unlawful expropriations. All members of the European Union are  compelled to assist setting up an appropriate database.
9. if the returned property asset involves a dwelling-house short or  medium term compulsory leases are to be worked out with the  present residents.

The persistence of norms, which violate the principles of the rule of  law as well as international laws is inconsistent with the EC-Treaty  and thus with the European Union's political understanding in  general. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that new community  regulations are developed to resolve past injustices, especially  those concerning illegal and uncompensated property confiscations

Cooperating Organisations: ARE, AGO, BJD, Schutzgemeinschaft in Deutschland (Germany), SUVLAH (Croatia); IS.FI.DA (Italy); ZLRP (Slovenia); American  Owners of Property in Slovenia, Focus Group (USA and Canada); Committee  for Private Property Inc. (Romania; The Czech Coordinating Committee, IDAC,  Lithuaninan Community, Inc.

Vladislav Bevc or ako@alumni.eecs.berkeley.edu (Slovenia) can be contacted in English, Slovenian, Italian, German, French, Croatian and Serbian.

Alexandra Mareschi ILOG can be contacted in English and German.

Borut Prah (Slovenia) Oakland, CA
tel + 1 510-486-1500
fax + 1 510-486-1511
can be contacted in Slovenian and English.

Juan Sopianac (Croatia) can be contacted in Croatian, English, Italian.