The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague issued a judgement today in the case of Germany vs. Italy, regarding Jurisdictional Immunities of the State. Germany applied to the ICJ against Italy on 23 December 2008, reacting to a number of decisions from Italy’s Corte Suprema di Cassazione (Supreme Court of Cassation) and other Italian Courts, which found that Germany is responsible for providing compensation for the victims of war crimes perpetrated by German occupation forces in Italy, without enjoying the jurisdictional immunity of states.
Greece intervened in the case in question on 13 January 2011, as a non-party, based on Article 62 of the ICJ Charter, for the purpose of supporting Italy’s positions before the Court.
In its Judgement, the Court expresses the view that the actions of the German occupation forces of World War II were in violation of international humanitarian law. However, the Court noted that the specific case concerned the procedural rule of the Jurisdictional Immunities of States and not the responsibility of Germany for its illegal actions during the World War II.
Within this framework, the Court found that Germany, in this case, enjoys jurisdictional immunity, and found, accepting Germany’s requests, that the Italian courts violated this rule of customary international law. Moreover, the Court accepted that the decisions of the Italian courts allowing measures of constraint to be taken against Villa Vigoni, for the purpose of satisfying the victims of the Distomo case, as well as those courts’ declaring enforceable in Italy Greek judgments based on occurrences similar to those referred to above, to be illegal actions by the Italian side.
However, it is significant that the Court finds that the fact that a State enjoys immunity from the national courts of another State does not impact the matter of its international responsibility and its consequent obligation to provide compensation. Moreover, the Court – referring to the matter of compensation for Italian prisoners of war and other claims of Italian citizens, which have not been settled – stressed that these issues might be resolved through bilateral negotiations. In this manner, the Court confirms that these issues remain pending.
The Greek government will study this Judgement closely, in the light of its firm and longstanding position that the matter of German compensations remains open.
February 3, 2012