4.  The applicants (husband and wife) were born in 1933 and 1953, respectively, and live in Virovitica, Croatia. 5.  During a military operation undertaken during the Homeland War by the Croatian Army, in August 1995, the applicants' house in Karin Gornji, Croatia was destroyed. 6.  On 10 September 1998 the applicants instituted civil proceedings in the Obrovac Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Obrovcu) against the State seeking damages for their destroyed property. 7.  On 6 November 1999 the Amendments to the Civil Obligations Act (“the 1999 Amendments”) entered into force. The amended legislation provided that all proceedings instituted against the State for damage caused by members of the Croatian Army and police in the performance of their official duties during the Homeland War in Croatia were to be stayed. 8.  On 1 December 1999 the Obrovac Municipal Court dismissed the applicants' claim. The applicants appealed. 9.  On 8 March 2000 the Zadar County Court (Županijski sud u Zadru) returned the case file to the first-instance court with an instruction to stay the proceedings pursuant to the above legislation. 10.  On 23 March 2000 the Obrovac Municipal Court stayed the proceedings. 11.  On 31 July 2003 new legislation on the liability of the State for damage caused by members of the Croatian Army and police in the performance of their official duties during the Homeland War (“the 2003 Liability Act”) entered into force. 12.  The Government submitted that the applicants' proceedings had resumed pursuant to the above legislation and that they are currently pending before the second-instance court.
The applicants submitted that they had received no decision to resume the proceedings.