WWII survivors lose law suit
The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday dismissed a law suit by relatives of Nazi wartime massacre victims, a legal battle that has received the support of Prime Minister George Papandreou?s administration.
The four plaintiffs were children when German troops entered the village of Distomo in central Greece on June 10, 1944, and slaughtered 218 of their relatives and neighbors.
In a ruling released yesterday, the Strasbourg-based court said that the villagers? case for reparations was inadmissible because German courts, which had previously rejected the claim for damages had respected national and international law.
The ruling added that the European Convention on Human Rights did not oblige member states to make reparations for acts committed by predecessor states.
Greek and Italian courts have ruled in favor of the survivors but German authorities appealed these decisions at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
