Letter to the Registrar dated 23 May 2011 from
the Agent of the Italian Republic
[Translation]
The Government of the Italian Republic acknowledges receipt of the letter dated 4 May 2011
(transmitted by your letter of 6May 2011), whereby the Agent of the Hellenic Republic
communicated to the Court the observations of his Government in response to the observations of
the Federal Republic of Germany and the Italian Republic on whether to grant the Application for
permission to intervene filed by the Government of the Hellenic Republic on 13January2011 in
the case concerning Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy).
Having taken note of the observations a nd explanations furnished by the Hellenic
Government, the Italian Government is able to confirm its unders tanding of the Hellenic
Government’s wish to inform the Court of its stan ce on the nature and content of its legal interests
which it considers may be affected by the decision in the case, in view of the fact that, in its
Application filed on 23 December 2008, the Federal Re public of Germany refers in particular to a
Greek judicial decision (namely the judgment of the Regional Court of Livadia of
25 September/30 October 1997 in the Distomo case, confirmed by the Areios Pagos [Court of
Cassation] judgment of 4May2000, which held the German State liable to compensate Greek
nationals who were the victims of a massacre perpetrated on Greek territory by German armed
forces in 1944) and requests the Court to adjudge and declare that the Italian Republic, by declaring
such a decision enforceable in Italy, committed a breach of Germany’s jurisdictional immunity.
The Italian Republic likewise confirms that it has no objection to the Application for
permission to intervene filed by the Hellenic Repub lic, whilst fully recognizing that “It is for the
Court, responsible for safeguarding the proper administration of justice, to decide whether the
condition laid down by Article62, pa ragraph1, has been fulfilled.” ( Territorial and Maritime
Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia), Application by Honduras for permission to intervene, Judgment
of 4 May 2011, para. 36.)
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Additional observations of Italy on whether to grant the Application for permission to intervene filed by Greece