JSP Spring Hibernate not showing the ${} list

I have issue with listing my database output, following code does not print the list of names(it seems like contactList is empty):

<%@taglib uri="http://ift.tt/18bwTB1" prefix="spring"%>
<%@taglib uri="http://ift.tt/IED0jK" prefix="form"%>
<%@taglib uri="http://ift.tt/QfKAz6" prefix="c"%>

<!--- a lot of code blahblah

--->

<div class="row">

<table class="table table-hover">

<tr>
    <th>Name</th>
    <th>Email</th>
    <th>Telephone</th>
    <th>###</th>
</tr>



<c:if test="${!empty contactList}">   

<c:forEach var="contact" items="${contactList}" >
    <tr>
        <td>${contact.lastname}, ${contact.firstname} </td>
        <td>${contact.email}</td>
        <td>${contact.telephone}</td>
        <td><a href="delete/${contact.id}">delete</a></td>
    </tr>
</c:forEach>

</c:if>

</table>
</div>

Controller:

@RequestMapping(value={"/","/index"}, method = RequestMethod.GET)


public String listContacts(Map<String, Object> model) {
        List<Contact> list = contactService.listContact();

        for ( Contact contact : (List<Contact>) list ) {
            System.out.println( "Contact (" + contact.getFirstname() + ") : " + contact.getTelephone() );
        }

        model.put("contactList", list); 
        model.put("contact", new Contact());



        return "contact";
    }

it is worth noting, that the list is not empty inside the controller, as it outputs those:

Contact (tomku) : 420
Contact (dud) : 560
Contact () : 11
Contact (mac) : 22
Contact () : 3232

pom.xml

   <project xmlns="http://ift.tt/IH78KX" xmlns:xsi="http://ift.tt/ra1lAU"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://ift.tt/IH78KX http://ift.tt/HBk9RF">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.programcreek</groupId>
    <artifactId>HelloWorld</artifactId>
    <packaging>war</packaging>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>HelloWorld Maven Webapp</name>
    <url>http://ift.tt/19pvvEY;


  <dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-framework-bom</artifactId>
            <version>4.1.4.RELEASE</version>
            <type>pom</type>
            <scope>import</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

         <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
        <version>4.3.6.Final</version>
    </dependency>



    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.persistence</groupId>
        <artifactId>persistence-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.2</version>
    </dependency>    

    <dependency>
        <groupId>commons-dbcp</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-dbcp</artifactId>
        <version>1.4</version>
    </dependency>  

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
        <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
        <version>9.3-1102-jdbc41</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
<version>1.2</version>
</dependency>



       <!--  SPRING DEPENDENCIES -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-beans</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
    </dependency>


    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
    </dependency>


    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <finalName>HelloWorld</finalName>
    </build>
</project>

what could cause the issue?