27 July 2011

ICJ decision to permit Greece to intervene in Germany v Italy

On 4 July 2011, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) permitted Greece to intervene as a non-party in the Jurisdictional Immunities of the State case (Germany v Italy) under Article 62 of the ICJ Statute. The case concerns a claim by Germany that Italian courts have failed to respect the sovereign immunity of Germany in domestic cases regarding serious violations of international humanitarian law by Germany during World War II. Germany also alleges that Italian courts have breached international law by enforcing the judgment of the Greek courts in the Distomo massacre case in Italy. The Greek request for intervention concerned this latter aspect of the case and was opposed by neither of the two parties. Dapo Akande posted a blog about this decision at EJIL:Talk!.

Link to the decision: (pdf)