Balkan MPRI L-3 Genocide Case Will Stay in Illinois

Courthouse News Service

CHICAGO (CN) – Ethnic Serbs accusing a large defense contractor of arming the Croatian troops that committed genocide in the Krajina region can proceed with a class action in the Northern District of Illinois, where thousands of victims reside, a federal judge ruled.
Operation Storm, the largest European land offensive since World War II, killed or displaced more than 200,000 Serbs in 1995, according to the 2010 complaint filed by Genocide Victims of Krajina.
The umbrella group is seeking billions of dollars in damages from defense contractor L-3 Communications and its subsidiary, Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a corporation they say was founded by U.S. military officers who were downsized at the end of the Cold War.
MPRI staff allegedly helped the Croatian army plan and train for the attack, and it monitored and assisted the execution of the operation.
The complaint says that a division of L-3, “negotiated a contract to train and modernize the Croatian Army into a competent fighting force able to invade the Krajina region and expel the ethnic Serbian population from Croatian territory.”
Virginia-based L-3 asked the court to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, or alternatively, to transfer the case to the Southern District of New York or the Eastern District of Virginia. The contractor argued that either of these courts would be more convenient for the witnesses and parties involved.
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo refused on both counts, finding ample evidence that the Northern District of Illinois has jurisdiction over L-3

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