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Sunday, May. 20, 2012 |  Syndicate content

UN court rules against Italy over WWII compensation

Page last updated at 05:10 GMT, Friday, February 3, 2012 - 10:10 EST

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BBC:

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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.

Read the whole story: BBC

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