Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening) - Conclusion of the public hearings - Court to begin its deliberation

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0)70 302 2323 Fax: +31 (0)70 364 9928
Website: www.icj-cij.org

Press Release
Unofficial

No. 2011/26
16 September 2011

Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening)

Conclusion of the public hearings

Court to begin its deliberation

THE HAGUE, 16September2011. The pub lic hearings in the case concerning
Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening) were concluded

today. The Court will now begin its deliberation.

During the hearings, which opened on 12September2011 at the Peace Palace, seat of the
Court, the delegation of the Federa l Republic of Germany was led by
H.E. Ms Susanne Wasum-Rainer, Ambassador, Director-General for Legal Affairs and Legal
Adviser, Federal Foreign Office, H.E. Mr. Heinz- Peter Behr, Ambassador of the Federal Republic

of Germany to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Mr. Christian Tomuschat, former Member and
Chairman of the International Law Commission, Pr ofessor emeritus of Public International Law at
the Humboldt University of Berlin, as Agents. The delegation of the Italian Republic was led by
H.E. Mr. Paolo Pucci di Benisichi, Ambassador and State Counsellor, as Agent; and the delegation
of the Hellenic Republic was led by Mr.SteliosPe rrakis, Professor of International and European

Institutions, Panteion University of Athens, as Agent.

The Court’s Judgment will be rendered at a public sitting, the date of which will be
announced in due course.

Final submissions of the Parties

At the end of the oral proceedings, the Par ties presented the following final submissions to
the Court:

For the Federal Republic of Germany:

“Germany respectfully requests the Court to adjudge and declare that the Italian Republic:

1. by allowing civil claims based on violations of international humanitarian law by the German
Reich during World WarII between September1943 and May1945 to be brought against the

Federal Republic of Germany, committed violatio ns of obligations under international law in
that it has failed to respect the jurisdictional immunity which the Federal Republic of Germany
enjoys under international law; - 2 -

2. by taking measures of constraint against “Villa Vigoni”, German State property used for
government non-commercial purposes, also committed violations of Germany’s jurisdictional

immunity;

3. by declaring Greek judgments based on occurrences similar to those defined in request No.1
enforceable in Italy, committed a further breach of Germany’s jurisdictional immunity.

Accordingly, the Federal Republic of German y respectfully requests the Court to adjudge
and declare that:

4. the Italian Republic’s international responsibility is engaged;

5. the Italian Republic must, by means of its own choosing, take any and all steps to ensure that
all the decisions of its courts and other j udicial authorities infringing Germany’s sovereign
immunity become unenforceable;

6. the Italian Republic must take any and all steps to ensure that in the future Italian courts do not
entertain legal actions against Germany founded on the occurrences described in request No. 1
above.”

For the Italian Republic:

“[F]or the reasons given in [its] written and oral pleadings, [Italy requests] that the Court

adjudge and hold the claims of the Applicant to be unfounded. This request is subject to the
qualification that... Italy has no objection to any decision by the Court obliging Italy to ensure
that the mortgage on Villa Vigoni inscribed at the land registry is cancelled”.

*

Intervention of Greece

It is recalled that on Thursday 13 January 2011 Greece file d in the Registry of the Court an
Application for permission to intervene in the pr esent case. In its Application, Greece stated,

inter alia, that it “d[id] not seek to become a party to the case” (see Press Release No.2011/2 of
17 January 2011).

By an Order dated 4July2011, the Court granted Greece permission to intervene as a

non-party “in so far as this intervention is lim ited to the decisions of Greek courts [in the Distomo
case]” (see Press Release No. 2011/21 of 15 July 2011). Greece presented its oral observations to
the Court on Wednesday 14 September 2011.

*

Internal Judicial Practice of the Court with respect to deliberations

Deliberations take place in private in accord ance with the following procedure: the Court
first holds a preliminary discussion, during which the President outlines the issues which require

discussion and decision by the Court. Each judge then prepares a written Note setting out his or
her views on the case. Each Note is distributed to the other judges. A full deliberation is then held,
at the end of which, on the basis of the views expressed, a drafting committee is chosen by secret - 3 -

ballot. That committee consists in principle of tw o judges holding the majority view of the Court,
together with the President, unless it appears that his views are in the minority. The committee

prepares a draft text, which is first the subjectof written amendments and then goes through two
readings. In the meantime, judges who wish to do so may prepare a declaration, a separate opinion
or a dissenting opinion. The final vote is taken after adoption of the final text of the Judgment at
the second reading.

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Note: The Court’s press releases do not constitute official documents. The complete
verbatim records of the hearings held from 12 to 16 September 2011 are published on the website
of the Court (www.icj-cij.org).

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
It was established by the United Nations Char ter in June1945 and began its activities in
April1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six

principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York. The Court has a
twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by
States (its judgments have binding force and are w ithout appeal for the Parties concerned); and,
second, to give advisory opinions on legal questi ons referred to it by duly authorized United

Nations organs and agencies of the system. The Court is composed of 15judges elected for a
nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations. It is
assisted by a Registry, its international secretariat, whose activities are both judicial and diplomatic,

as well as administrative. The official languages of the Court are French and English.

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Information Department:

Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Mr. Boris Heim, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Ms Joanne Moore, Associate Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)