No plans to seize German assets over WWII claims, says justice minister

Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos denied on Tuesday the government was planning to seize German assets as compensation for a Nazi atrocities during World War II.

?No Greek citizen would want the confiscation of a historic educational/cultural institute like the Goethe [Institute in Athens],? Paraskevopoulos said in a statement.

Paraskevopoulos had been quoted earlier this month as saying he was ready to approve a Supreme Court ruling from 2000 backing payment to relatives of 218 civilians massacred by Nazi troops in Distomo, a village in central Greece, in June 1944.

During a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras also rejected speculation that Greek authorities were planning to seize the Goethe Institute, or any other German property.