Vatican and Franciscan Order Implicated in Serbian Genocide But Fed Judge Dismisses Case On Technicality

Major issues sidestepped as judge rules Vatican Bank can't be sued in U.S. because "it doesn't do business here."

By Greg Szymanski
Dec 28, 2007

A civil lawsuit pinning the Vatican to genocide atrocities to Serbs,
Jews and Romas from 1941-1945 was dismissed by a San Francisco federal judge after an eight year struggle to get justice for remaining
survivors.

The federal court Thursday dismissed allegations in the case of Alperin v. Vatican Bank on technical grounds, failing to address major issues,
while ruling the Vatican Bank could not be sued in America since "it
doesn't do business here."

Jon Levy, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he wasn't surprised by the
ruling and was in the process of filing an immediate appeal.

Although the Vatican Bank was dismissed, he wasn't sure about the status of the Franciscan Order, also named defendants in the genocide case.

In the case, information came forward showing the Franciscans were not only instrumental in organizing the genocide but actually took part in
the physical torture and killing.

"The bar was set high in this case and the major issues were not ruled
on by the court, however, we will appeal," said Levy on Greg Szymanski's Radio Show, The Investigative Journal, where all of Levy's comments can be heard on the Dec 27, 2007, archive of the show located at www.arcticbeacon.com

One of the major issues Levy referred to was a Nov. 6, 2006, motion made by the Pope's private attorney where he admitted the Vatican's
involvement in the genocide, but said it was justified by international
law.

"The court skirted that issue by dismissing on technical grounds," said
Levy. "You mean to tell me that Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles doesn't use a Vatican bank account?"

Alperin v. Vatican Bank was originally filed in Federal Court in San
Francisco in November 1999. The plaintiffs are concentration camp
survivors of Serb, Jewish, and Ukrainian background and their relatives
as well as organizations representing over 800,000 Holocaust victims.

The plaintiffs seek an accounting and restitution of the Nazi Croatian
Treasury that according to the U.S. State Department was illicitly
transferred to the Vatican Bank, the Franciscan Order and other banks
after the end of the war.

Defendants currently include the Vatican Bank and Franciscan Order.
These defendants combined to conceal assets looted by the Croatian Nazis from concentration camp victims, Serbs, Jews, Roma and others between
1941-1945.

In an effort to get information pinning Vatican complicity, Levy sued
the CIA in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act seeking
release of U.S. Intelligence agency files regarding the notorious Vatican
spymaster, Fr. Krunoslav Draganovic. New records on Draganovic were
released as a result of the successful conclusion of that lawsuit in
2001.

Levy was successful in the case and documents released, damaging to the Vatican, cleared showed CIA and Vatican complicity with Croatian
fascists in transporting millions in stolen loot from the genocide
victims to the Vatican Bank and then used to buy weapons to foment
further war and aggression.

Levy said one of the highlights of the case came when an ex-CIA agent, testified for the genocide victims, saying he had personal knowledge of the Vatican-CIA scheme to transport and then money launder profits from the genocide.

Although the case is considered by many credible researchers as "huge in its findings", there has been a virtual blackout in the mainstream and
alternative media, indicating just how powerful the Vatican is in
suppressing information as well as controlling the courts.

To further illustrate the atrocities of the genocide a recent video came
to light implicating the Vatican and the Nazis, connecting them to the
horrors of a concentration camp called Jasenovac. Previously, a
well-guarded secret from the West, the following is an explanation of
what when on in Jasenovac by the presenters of the video.

“Situated not really behind the iron curtain, Jasenovac concentration
camp and its unsurpassed cruelty on Serbs, Jews and Gypsies have never been acknowledged in the west. One is for the desire of communist president Tito (of Croatian descent) to impose ideology of "brotherhood and unity" to former Yugoslavia, and the other is lack of awareness in the West, of the victimization of Serbian people fighting the fascism, including the cruelest Ustashe (Croatian nazi), the only Hitler's puppet state that imposed the same racial laws as Nazi Germany against Jews, Gypsies and Serbs.

Watch this educational documentary and discover the shameful role of
Vatican in the genocide. Citizens of the world owe it to 700.000
victims. Serbia, Serb, Srbija, Kosovo, ethnic cleansing, etnicko
ciscenje, Croat, paramilitary, mujahedeen, al-qaeda.

Here is a link to the video for viewing:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4506666011464565164&pr=goog-sl

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