Victims may take Germany to court over Nazi war crimes, Italian top court rules

Italy's Constitutional Court has ruled that private individuals can sue Germany in Italian courts for Nazi war crimes and crimes against humanity, thus paving the way for lawsuits of Italian victims of the German occupation during World War II.

In 2012, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague had said in a ruling that private individuals could not take foreign states to court, including for Nazi war crimes. The Italian top court in Rome now ruled that states can not claim such immunity when committing war crimes or crimes against humanity. This follows similar rulings by lower courts in Italy, which ruled that some victims of the German occupation from 1943 to 1945 may sue the German government for compensation.

Berlin is reportedly studying the ruling but said the 2012 decision by the ICJ had vindicated its position on the matter.

An estimated 600,000 Italian soldiers were deported to do forced labor for Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1945, following the end of the Mussolini regime and the occupation of northern and central Italy by German troops. Tens of thousands of Italian forced laborers died.

German troops also committed a number of massacres during the occupation of the country, including the Fosse Ardeantine massacre, a mass killing carried out on 24 March 1944 by German troops as a reprisal for a partisan attack conducted on the previous day in Rome.