Germany Challenges Italian Court Ruling in WWII Massacre Award

(Berlin, Germany) On June 29, 1944, German Nazi troops massacred 203 Italian men, women and children of Arezzo in the province of Tuscany. Families of the victims filed suit against Germany seeking compensation.

In September, Italy's highest appeal court ordered Germany to pay a total of €800,000 ($1.05 million) in damages to the families of nine Arezzo victims.

Claiming that the Italian court ruling is contrary to previous agreements between the two countries, Germany has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to overturn the Italian court's ruling.

This is a curious case. It's the first time that an Italian high court has ordered Germany to pay compensation and, therefore, it's the first time that a challenge to this type of ruling has been filed. Frankly, I'm somewhat confused as to which court has jurisdiction over what.