Berlin sues Italy over compensations for Nazi war crimes: ICJ

According to the ICJ, Germany filed a case against Italy at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday, arguing that Rome's decision to enable victims of Nazi war crimes to seek compensation from Berlin breached the country's sovereignty and contradicted a previous court judgment.

"Italy has violated, and continues to violate, its obligation to respect Germany's sovereign immunity by allowing civil claims to be brought against Germany based on violations of international humanitarian law committed by the German Reich between 1943 and 1945, including, but not limited to, in 25 proceedings, listed in Annex 6 [to the Application], instituted against Germany since the judgment of the Italian Constitutional Court of 22 October 2014," the ICJ press release said.

Germany has referred to a 2012 court decision that confirms the country's legal immunity from Nazism-related judicial claims.

However, the Italian Constitutional Court declared in 2014 that the necessity to implement the 2012 verdict is based on the constitutional principle of the legal protection of fundamental rights.

According to the statement, Berlin is asking the court to determine that Rome is still violating Germany's sovereign immunity by enforcing state property on its territory.

Despite the fact that the International Court of Justice determined in 2012 that this violates Berlin's claim to immunity under international law, 25 more cases demanding payment from Germany have been filed in Italy since then. In two separate incidents, Italian courts attempted to seize German property in Rome to enforce the verdicts.