Greece and Albania have agreed to remove the War Law. This will remove obstacles for Albanian citizens whose properties were seized during the WWII.
Top Channel has learned, however, that the agreement will not have retroactive effect, which means that former owners will be unable to be compensated for their properties, which have been exploited by third parties for the past 78 years.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the War Law will be removed with a Presidential decree that will be equalized to the royal decree of 1940.
The royal decree led to the seizing of all properties that Albanian citizens had in the Greek territory.
In 1966, another decree confirmed the one of 1940. Greece will repeal this law in Parliament.
Top Channel has learned that this will make way for returning the property confiscated by the Greek state to the Albanian owners.
But the Cham Albanians will not benefit because their properties were confiscated with the argument that they were collaborators of the Nazi and Fascists during the war.
This is about hundreds of properties, mainly shops, homes and agricultural lands, mounting up to 13 million EUR.
The properties of the Albanian state will also be returned. These properties are in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larisa and Patra, which have been leased to Greek citizens with a very low rent during all these years.
The Greek government also seized hundreds of kilograms of jewels, artworks, treasury bonds, which were in bank deposits during this time. The heirs of these persons will have to follow legal ways to retrieve them, which could take years.
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