The wheels of justice turn slowly....

Germany is taking Italy to the highest UN court over Rome's continuing to allow victims of Nazi war crimes to claim compensation from the German state, despite an earlier ruling that such claims were in breach of international law.


Germany's application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) says Italy continues to allow compensation claims in domestic courts despite a 2012 ruling that this violated Berlin's right to immunity under international law.

Berlin says that since the ICJ decision, there have been more than 25 new compensation claims filed in Italy against the German state for damages arising from Nazi crimes during World War Two.

In several of these cases, courts have ordered Germany to pay compensation, which twice saw Italian courts try to seize German state property in Rome.

Germany says it has filed the case at the ICJ now because an Italian court has said it will decide by May 25 whether to push through a sale of the buildings, some of which house German cultural, archaeological, historical and educational institutions.

Berlin has asked the court to take provisional measures to make sure Italy does not publicly auction off its property while its wider case over compensation claims is being considered. No date has yet been set for a a hearing on the measures but one is expected within the next few weeks.

It usually takes years for the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to issue a final decision in cases.

The argument over World War Two compensation claims started in 2008 when Italy's highest court ruled that Germany should pay around $1 million to families of nine people who were among 203 killed in 1944 by the German army in the Tuscan commune of Civitella.

A number of similar compensation claims have since followed.

Germany has claimed it has already compensated for World War Two injustices in extensive peace and reparations treaties with affected countries, paying out billions of dollars since the war ended with the Nazi regime's defeat in 1945.

Germany takes Italy to UN court again over Nazi reparations claims - CGTN