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On this basis, the plaintiffs seek mortgage of property owned by the German State in Florence. During the legal battles in the District, then the Court of Appeal of Florence, the complaints of the German state were rejected. Ultimately, the demands of the Greek claimants were satisfied in 2008 by the Supreme Court of Italy in respect of legal costs, and last July it was clear that the same court ruled in their favour the entire amount of compensation.

Using the extraterritoriality “trump card”

The decisions of the Italian justice in connection with the victims of Distomo are not the only ones related to compensation claims against the Nazi troops. In mid 2008, Italian courts had already adopted similar claims of Italian nationals, which made the German state take drastic measures.

In response to the decisions of Italian courts in matters of compensation (one of which referred to the massacre at Distomo), Germany decided to refer the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The country insisted on the recognition that Italy had violated its international obligations towards Germany on the basis of international law, since Italian judges had not honoured the principle of extraterritoriality.

In this case, both the Greek and Italian Supreme Courts felt that the principle of extraterritoriality of the German State was not in force.

The principle of extraterritoriality, which in practice means that a country cannot "be sued" in the courts of another country, is a fundamental principle in international law; it affects hundreds of cases of different nature and is not limited to the issue of German reparations. According to Greece and Italy, however, when a country has committed various atrocities such as genocide or crimes against humanity, then the principle of extraterritoriality should be forgotten. The main argument of the Greek state is that "a State cannot hide behind the principle of extraterritoriality."

Greece decided to get involved

Greek descendants of Distomo victims are not eligible to participate in the dispute between Italy and Germany at The Hague because no individuals are allowed to be present at the International Court. Everything changed, however, when (after decades) the Greek Government gave the green light for the intervention of the Greek state in the case. Through this legal intervention, in practice, Greece supports the Italian arguments before the Court in The Hague and requests the cancellation of the German appeal in order to allow Distomo residents to receive the compensation they want.