L-3 Communications, one of the top defense contractors in the United States, is being sued by a group of Serbs who accuse the company of helping Croatians commit genocide against their people during the Balkans war in 1995.

 

A lawsuit filed in a Northern Illinois federal court says L-3 and its subsidiary, MPRI (Military Professional Resources Inc.), helped arm and train the Croatians, who killed or displaced 200,000 Serbs in the Krajina region of Croatia. The complaint states that, “Whether MPRI personnel took part in the genocide is not known and is not alleged here. But what is known definitively is that MPRI provided the means that enabled the genocide to occur.”

 

Lawyers for the defense contractor asked the judge to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, or at least transfer the suit to the Southern District of New York or the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge Ruben Castillo refused on both counts, and ordered the case to proceed in Illinois.

 

The plaintiffs are seeking more than $10 billion in damages from L-3—$25,000 per victim, plus 16 years’ interest at 5%.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Balkan Genocide Case Will Stay in Illinois (by Jack Bouboushian, Courthouse News Service)

Genocide Victims of Krajina v. L-3 Services (U.S. District Court, Northern Illinois) (pdf)

U.S. Mercenaries Accused of Abetting Genocide (by Robert Kahn, Courthouse News Service)