Germany has filed a case against Italy at the International Court of Justice over attempts within the country to claim compensation for Nazi-era war crimes.
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Berlin said Rome was violating international law by continuing to allow victims of Nazi war crimes to claim compensation from Germany domestically despite a 2012 ruling that such claims were inadmissible.
Germany said that since the ruling, there have been over 25 new compensation claims filed in Italy against the German state for damages arising from Nazi crimes during World War II. In some of these cases, courts have ordered Germany to pay compensation.
Berlin said it was bringing the case to the principal judicial body of the United Nations because of two ongoing cases that could see German-owned properties in Rome seized to finance compensation payments. The Italian court is expected to rule by May 25 whether to force a sale of the buildings, some of which house German cultural, archeological, historical and educational institutions.
Germany has asked the court to take so-called provisional measures to ensure Italy does not publicly auction off the property while its wider case over compensation claims is being considered.
It generally takes years for the World Court to issue a final decision in cases.
The dispute over World War II compensation claims started in 2008 when Italy's highest court ruled that Germany should pay around 1 million euros to families of nine people who were among 203 killed by the German army in Civitella, Tuscany in 1944.
A number of similar compensation claims followed.
Germany has argued it has already compensated for World War II injustices in extensive peace and reparations treaties with affected countries, paying out billions of euros since the war ended with the Nazi regime's defeat in 1945.
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