On June 10, 1944 nazi troops stormed the village and killed 218 men, women and children.
Earlier, the mayors and representatives of cities and villages of Greece which suffered mass murders during WWII expressed in a meeting their will to continue maintaining the memory of the massacres "out of duty and honour to those assassinated."
Their joint board named "Greek Holocausts" which claims war reparations said it will cooperate with the National Council and expressed its support for the relevant initiatives taken by the Parliament and the Greek government.
Quite shockingly, Amnesty International -a Soros-backed organization- demanded justice for the massacre in Distomo. In a press statement it underlined that the victims and their families are still denied justice and reparations.
The chief of Amnesty International in Greece Giorgos Kosmopoulos argued that as of 1907 the victims of war crimes have had the right to claim reparations from States that committed the atrocities. Amnesty International supports the right to reparations for war crimes and claims that States should not be allowed to block the civil action launched by the victims of war crimes in foreign courts, when they have no other recourse.
In the case of Distomo, survivors and families of the victims filed a claim against the German state and in 2000, the Supreme Court in Greece ratified a 1997 court ruling that reject Germany’s immunity claim and ordered that reparations be paid out. The Greek Minister of Justice at the time though refused to enforce the ruling.
The plaintiffs filed a suit against Greece and Germany at the European Court of Human Rights, which accepted Germany’s claim and threw out the case in 2002. The plaintiffs however were successful via the Italian courts. Once again, Germany refused to pay out reparations and appealed to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, claiming that Italy had violated its immunity.
The International Court confirmed Germany’s immunity for the crimes committed by its armed forces in Italy and Germany during the Second World War and admitted that its decision may avert war crime victims from claiming and receiving reparations. It noted though that these claims could be further negotiated between Germany and Italy, in order to resolve the matter. Amnesty International responded that the ICJ’s decision was a major ‘setback for rights’ and noted that so far and to its knowledge there have been no negotiations.
Mr. Kosmopoulos commented that “while there should not be any state immunity for war crimes, we believe that the negotiations that will provide reparations and ultimately a sense of justice to the victims and their families must begin immediately”.
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