5.  The applicant was born in 1930 and lives in Sarajevo. 6.  On 25 August 1993 the Military Police seized the applicant’s car in front of his house in Mala Duba near Makarska, Croatia.
On 10 September 1993 the applicant brought a civil action in the Makarska Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Makarskoj) against the State seeking recovery of the seized car or, alternatively, pecuniary damages. 7.  On 13 November 1997 the Municipal Court gave judgment by which it accepted the applicant’s claim and awarded him the damages sought. 8.  On 2 February 1998 the State lodged an appeal against the judgment with the Split County Court (Županijski sud u Splitu). 9.  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. 10.  After the enactment of the above legislation, the County Court returned the case-file to the Municipal Court with a view to staying the proceedings. 11.  On 10 February 2003 the Municipal Court stayed the proceedings. 12.  On 8 April 2003 the applicant appealed against that decision to the Split County Court. The proceedings are currently pending before that court. 13.  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. 14.  Meanwhile, on 8 August 2002 the applicant filed a constitutional complaint concerning the length of the proceedings. To date, the Constitutional Court has not given a decision on the applicant’s complaint.