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A US judge on Tuesday heard arguments from lawyers representing the German government and indigenous groups in Namibia but postponed a decision on the advisability of hearing a lawsuit seeking reparations for the colonial genocide
. – hearing before a federal court in New York but concluded the session by saying that she would not rule immediately. It has also not set a date for a decision.
The German government wants the prosecution to be dismissed because of state immunity. The Herero and Nama groups are demanding reparations for the genocide of their peoples under German colonial rule.
Tens of thousands of Hereros and about 10,000 Nama were killed between 1903 and 1908 after rising up against German colonial rule in South West Africa, which is nowadays the most Namibia.
The Herero and Nama people filed suit last year, seeking compensation for the tens of thousands of people killed in the killings.
Germany, which acknowledged that atrocities have occurred, is currently in it discussing with Namibia an agreement containing an official apology and a promise of development aid.
The lawsuit was brought under the Alien Tort Act which allows non-US citizens to assert their rights in the US Federal Court. 19659002] On Tuesday, lawyer Jeffrey Harris argued that Germany should benefit from the principle of immunity from prosecution as a sovereign state.
Kenneth McCallion, the awyer leader for the Herero and Nama tribes, argued that several exceptions to this principle were applicable.
Germany owns four buildings in New York, which were acquired with public money, the coffers that McCallion supported were spurred by colonial looting. He also sought to establish the principle of trade between Germany and the United States by reporting the sale by German museums of the remains of the victims of the genocide in 1924 to an American collector who then gave them to the American Museum. Natural history of New York. Harris replied that there was no direct link between the funds used to buy the New York properties and the colonial activities, and declared that the purchase of bones did not constitute a trade with the states. -United.
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