Immunità degli Stati dalla giurisdizione e risarcimento del danno per violazione di diritti fondamentali: il caso Mantelli

In the Mantelli case the Italian Supreme Court confirmed his precedent jurisprudence in the Ferrini case, affirming that Germany was not entitled to sovereign immunity for serious violations of human rights carried out by German occupying forces during World War II. Based upon a systematic interpretation of the international legal order, the Court conducted a ‘balancing of values’ between the two fundamental international law principles of the sovereign equality of states and of the protection of inviolable human rights. The note explores the Court’s with the view to verifying whether, and in which sense, the italian case law may facilitate a radical reappraisal of the relationship between human rights and the law of state immunity.