MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Constitutional Court of Italy has ruled that victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed under the Nazis have the right to sue Germany in Italian courts, a move contrary to the existing UN resolution on the issue, AFP reports.
The Constitutional Court’s decision follows similar rulings by lower Italian courts, which allowed private individuals to bring proceedings against Germany based on violations of international humanitarian law by the Nazis from 1943 until 1945.
However, in 2012, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, UN’s primary judicial body, upheld Germany’s jurisdictional immunity. The ICJ reviewed Italy’s case against Germany ruling that “the question whether Germany still has a responsibility towards Italy, or individual Italians, in respect of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by it during the Second World War does not affect Germany’s entitlement to immunity.” Italian courts had to stop any proceedings against Germany, according to the ruling.
“The claims against Germany filed in the courts of other countries are utterly inadmissible,” Sawsan Chebli, spokeswoman of the German foreign ministry, said on Friday, as quoted by AFP. “State immunity results from the International Court’s decision. That’s the rule.”
Italy was occupied by the German forces in 1943 after Benito Mussolini, the country’s then prime minister, was removed from power. An estimated 600,000 Italian soldiers were taken prisoners, deported to Germany and used as forced labor. Germans referred to them as Italian military internees and denied them prisoner of war status. Tens of thousands of them died in captivity. Italy insists the victims of the Nazi war crimes are entitled to reparations and are within their rights to sue Germany.
