KURIĆ AND OTHERS v. SLOVENIA JUDGMENT 1 In the case of Kurić and Others v. Slovenia, The European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber composed of: Nicolas Bratza, President, Jean-Paul Costa, Françoise Tulkens, Nina Vajić, Dean Spielmann, Boštjan M. Zupančič, Anatoly Kovler, Elisabeth Steiner, Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre, Päivi Hirvelä, George Nicolaou, Luis López Guerra, Zdravka Kalaydjieva, Nebojša Vučinić, Guido Raimondi, Ganna Yudkivska, Angelika Nußberger, judges, and Vincent Berger, Jurisconsult, Having deliberated in private on 6 July 2011 and 11 April 2012, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the lastmentioned date: PROCEDURE 1. The case originated in an application (no. 26828/06) against the Republic of Slovenia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by Mr Milan Makuc, a Croatian national, and by ten other applicants, on 4 July 2006. After the death of Mr Makuc, the case was renamed Kurić and Others v. Slovenia. Eight applicants remain before the Grand Chamber (see paragraph 15 below). 2. The applicants were represented before the Court by Mr A.G. Lana and Mr A. Saccucci, lawyers practising in Rome, and Ms A. Ballerini and Mr M. Vano, lawyers practising in Genoa (Italy). 3. The Slovenian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr L. Bembič, State Attorney. 4. Under Article 8 of the Convention, the applicants alleged, in particular, that they had been arbitrarily deprived of their status as permanent residents after Slovenia had declared its independence in 1991.