For Immediate Release:
Jonathan Levy and Tom Easton Attorneys
resistk@yahoo.com
202-318-2406
www.vaticanbankclaims.com
Vatican Dealt Another Legal Setback in Holocaust Claims
Lawsuit
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Says NO to Vatican
San Francisco: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a Vatican petition for reconsideration and has shown no interest in a Vatican request for an extraordinary en banc hearing of the Ninth Circuit. This follows the Ninth Circuit decision of April 18, 2005 ruling that Holocaust survivors will be permitted to continue their claims against the Vatican for an accounting and restitution of the so-called Ustasha or Croatian treasury consisting of funds plundered from former Yugoslavia during the Second World War. The majority of the victims of genocide in Croatia during the Second World War were Orthodox Christian Serbs over 500,000 of who were liquidated by the Croatian Ustasha with the backing of some Roman Catholic clerics.
The Ninth Circuit also issued an amended opinion that indicated the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947 with the Allies likely did not preclude the lawsuit because the Vatican was not a signatory to that treaty.
According to attorneys for the plaintiffs, this latest decision will hopefully provide momentum to resolve this lawsuit for the Holocaust survivors many of whom are elderly and frail. According to attorney, Jonathan Levy: “The Vatican talks about reconciliation with Orthodox Christians but is playing a despicable waiting game for the last survivors of the Yugoslav Holocaust to expire.”
The court’s order may be viewed at www.vaticanbankclaims.com/orderjune.pdf
For more information contact:
Jonathan Levy and Tom Easton Attorneys
resistk@yahoo.com
202-318-2406
www.vaticanbankclaims.com