6.  Following the financial crisis in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as the collapse of the banking system in Serbia in the 1990s, in 1998 and 2002 the respondent State adopted specific legislation accepting the conversion of foreign currency deposits in certain banks, including Vojvođanska banka, into a public debt. The legislation set the time-frame (2016) and the amounts, including interest, to be paid back to the banks' former clients. It also explicitly provided, inter alia, that any foreign currency-related judicial proceedings were to be discontinued (for details concerning the relevant domestic law see paragraphs 20-27 below). 7.  The applicant was born in 1926 and lives in Subotica, Serbia. He is retired and receives a pension in the net amount of approximately 250 Euros (“EUR”) monthly. 8.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 9.  On a number of separate occasions, the applicant deposited a certain amount of his foreign currency savings with the Subotica branch of Vojvođanska banka, a bank based in Novi Sad. 10.  In 1991 the said bank refused to release the applicant's funds. 11.  On 21 July 1993 the applicant filed a civil claim, seeking the release of his foreign currency deposits with the interest stipulated. 12.  On 27 September 1993 the Municipal Court in Subotica ruled partly in favour of the applicant and ordered the bank to pay him: (i) 15,584.41 German Marks (“DEM”), on account of his foreign currency savings; (ii) 37,460,000,000 Yugoslav Dinars (“YUD”), for his legal costs[1]; and (iii) the statutory interest due in respect of the latter as of 27 September 1993. 13.  On 20 March 1996 the District Court in Subotica upheld this judgment, adding that the respondent bank should also pay interest on the sum of DEM 15,584.41 which had been awarded. In particular, this interest was to be paid as of 1 January 1993, based on the DEM sight deposit rate (kamata na štedne uloge po viđenju). 14.  On 2 October 1996 the Supreme Court rejected the respondent's appeal on points of law (revizija) and confirmed the District Court's judgment. 15.  On 24 April 2001 and 26 September 2001, respectively, the applicant filed two separate requests with the Municipal Court in Subotica, seeking enforcement of the above judgment by means of a bank account transfer. 16.  On 2 April 2002 the Municipal Court rejected those requests, stating that, under the relevant domestic legislation, all judicial enforcement proceedings aimed at the collection of foreign currency deposits had to be discontinued. 17.  On 30 March 2004 the bank confirmed that the applicant's foreign currency savings had been converted into a public debt in the amount of EUR 8,740.18. 18.  As of 1 March 2007 the applicant was still owed EUR 6,652, having in the meantime, in several instalments and on various grounds, been reimbursed a total of EUR 2,088.18. 19.  There is no information in the case file whether the applicant received any payments thereafter.