Italian legal experts were in court to hear the verdict on Friday |
The UN's
highest court has ruled that Italy was wrong to allow its courts to make claims
for compensation against Germany for Nazi war crimes.
The
International Court of Justice's ruling confirms that Germany has legal
immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of such crimes.
Germany has
paid tens of billions of dollars in reparations since the 1950s.
It appealed
to the UN court in 2008 after Italy's supreme court backed a claim by a former slave
labourer.
ICJ judge
Hisashi Owada read out the verdict at the court's headquarters in The Hague.
It found
that the Italian supreme court had violated Germany's sovereignty in 2008 by
judging that Italian civilian Luigi Ferrini was entitled to reparations for his
deportation to Germany in 1944 to work as a slave labourer in the armaments
industry.
The ICJ is
the UN's highest judicial organ and settles disputes between states.
Its rulings
are final and binding on states.
Wave of
claims
Mr Ferrini
made his claim for compensation from Germany in 1998 and in 2004 the Italian
supreme court decided in his favour.
A wave of
compensation claims ensued and as of September last year, there were 80 cases
pending with 500 plaintiffs, German lawyers told the ICJ.
Greece was
also drawn into the dispute after relatives of Greek victims of a massacre in
1944 refiled a case before Italian courts.
Germany had
previously refused to pay compensation to the Greek claimants.
Last year,
German lawyers argued that the "consequences would be severe" if
Italian courts were allowed to continue hearing such claims.
Germany
said it could put "all interstate peace settlements in jeopardy by
allowing domestic courts to re-examine and reopen them", allowing plaintiffs
to "shop around for the most favourable courts".
Italy
argued for its part that such claims were admissible as the abuses committed by
German troops amounted to "international crimes" which had precedence
over state immunity.
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