Festival Ljubljana was due to hand over the church to the Teutonic Order by 9 May but since it failed to do so, the Catholic religious order has filed a lawsuit at the Ljubljana District Court.
After the Culture Ministry decided to return the Church of Our Lady of Mercy to the Teutonic Order in the 25-year denationalisation process, the church owner, the Ljubljana municipality, and Festival Ljubljana, which uses it for various events, launched an administrative dispute.
But on 20 March, the Administrative Court fully confirmed the decision of the Culture Ministry, which thus became final.
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Since 19 September, the Teutonic Order is named as the church's owner also in the land register.
But this is being contested by Festival Ljubljana and the Ljubljana municipality, which took the issue to the Supreme Court, demanding a revision of the Administrative Court' ruling, according to Dnevnik.
The legal representative of the Teutonic Order, Anton Pregelj, told the paper that Festival Ljubljana and the municipality had failed to respond to their calls and demands to hand over the church, which was why they were being sued.
The city and Festival Ljubljana are reportedly arguing that the Teutonic Order does not have the status of a private law person so it cannot have an ownership right.
But Pregelj says that this argument was used in all the procedures so far and was dismissed by courts.
He believes they are using this as a manoeuvre to "buy some time."
Festival Ljubljana did not respond to the paper's inquiry as to why they still have not handed over the church but they said that they had not used the facility this year.
