The leader of Rome's Jewish community has launched a stinging attack on Italy's judicial system after he was forced to pay the legal costs of a Nazi war criminal who unsuccessfully sued him.
Riccardo Pacifici said he would complain to the Italian minister of justice after he was handed a bill for €316 (£267) to cover administrative costs from a trial involving Erich Priebke, a former SS officer who was given a life sentence in 1998 for massacring Italians during the second world war.
Priebke, 99, who is living under house arrest in Rome, sued Pacifici for attempted kidnapping in 1996 after a courtroom scuffle during his trial. He lost despite two appeals, but has avoided the €316 bill for administrative costs because he is officially listed as having no assets or income. Under a quirk of Italian law, the bill was then sent to Pacifici.
Despite the relatively small amount, Pacifici – who campaigns against anti-semitism in Italy – said it was ridiculous that he was being asked to bail out a convicted Nazi war criminal. "I believe it is absurd that the president of the Jewish community in Rome should pay legal costs for a Nazi who is guilty of one of the most tragic massacres of the 20th century," he said.
Priebke was convicted of taking part in the 1944 massacre of 335 Italian civilians in Rome's Ardeatine caves, staged in reprisal for the killing of Germans. After the war, Priebke fled to Argentina and lived there for 50 years before being extradited.
In court, he claimed he was just following orders.
Since being placed under house arrest in Rome, Priebke was in the habit of suing people, said Pacifici, hoping to win payouts, knowing he would never have to pay if he lost. Pacifici likened him to a poker player "who can raise the stakes as much as he wants because he will never pay".
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