International Law and Domestic Law

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Jurisdictional Immunities and Reparation for WWII Crimes: The Impact of the Italian Constitutional Court’s Judgement No. 159/2023 on Greek Victims’ Claims

August 15, 2023

Donato Greco

Introduction With Judgement No. 159/2023, the Italian Constitutional Court wrote a new chapter in the long-running judicial saga between Germany and Italy over jurisdictional immunities and reparations for serious violations of human rights committed by the Third Reich during World War II. While, in her blog post, Pelliconi has brilliantly analysed the decision’s main implications (see also Berrino and Greco), the present contribution is aimed at discussing an issue that remained outside the scope of the judgement, namely the Greek victims’ right to effective judicial protection before Italian courts. This issue remains unresolved at the moment and is therefore destined to give rise to further developments in the next future. In this respect, an attempt will be made to highlight possible scenarios and offer some feasible solutions.

The Italian Constitutional Court’s new decision on state immunity and the ICJ Germany vs Italy No. 2

July 28, 2023

Andrea Maria Pelliconi

On 21 July 2023, the Italian Constitutional Court issued a new decision on state immunity that could bring the proceeding between Germany and Italy currently pending before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to conclusion. This post unpacks the decision and its broader impact on immunity in international law, showing that the judgment does not…

The Ljubljana – The Hague Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance: Was the Gap Closed?

June 12, 2023

Bruno de Oliveira Biazatti

Ezéchiel Amani

26 May 2023 was a historical day for the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. On that day, a Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries, held in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia, between 15 and 26 May, adopted by consensus the Ljubljana – The Hague Convention on International Cooperation…

France’s Highest Court Confirms Universal Jurisdiction

June 1, 2023

Juliette Rémond Tiedrez

In November 2021, the Criminal Chamber of the French Cour de cassation, shocked the international criminal law community (see here and here) by considering that French courts did not have jurisdiction over crimes against humanity committed in Syria because Syria was not party to the Rome Statute and did…

South Africa and the ICC Arrest Warrant for Vladimir Putin: Déjà Vu All Over Again?

April 5, 2023

Hannah Woolaver

1. Introduction South Africa is again at the centre of controversy regarding the obligation to arrest a sitting head of state pursuant to an arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court. Previously, the South African government was held by both the ICC and domestic courts to have violated its international and domestic…

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