Germany To Fight Italy Massacre Ruling In Hague

Germany has argued that international law gives it immunity from prosecution by private citizens and refused to pay.

Germany said on Monday it planned to go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to contest an Italian court's ruling that Berlin must pay damages for a Nazi massacre during World War Two.

Italy's top court ruled last month that Germany should pay around 1 million euros ($1.29 million) in compensation to the families of nine victims of the killings, committed by the German army in Civitella, Tuscany. A total of 203 people died in the 1944 massacre.

Germany has argued that international law gives it immunity from prosecution by private citizens and refused to pay.

"The German government, due to the compensation proceedings against Germany that were taken to court in Italy, will bring a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague," German Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner told a news conference.

He said Germany believed the Italian court ruling threatened to damage state immunity, which he described as a central tenet of international law.

The ICJ is a world court for disputes between nations.

"We firmly believe that a clarification of this question is not only in German interests but also in the interests of the international community at large," said Ploetner, adding that Berlin had a good, trusting dialogue with Rome on the issue.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said last year that Germany had paid 64 billion euros in reparations and compensation since the end of World War Two.