State Jurisdictional Immunity and World War II: The Changri-lá Case
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56754/2735-7236.2026.3383Keywords:
State immunity, Sovereign acts, International conflict, Human rights, War crimesAbstract
This commentary analyzes the Changri-lá case (2008), in which Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court recognized Germany’s jurisdictional immunity for the sinking of a Brazilian fishing vessel during the Second World War. The ruling reaffirms the absolute immunity of states for sovereign acts, even in cases involving war crimes. The decision aligns with international jurisprudence, underscores that sovereign acts in wartime contexts remain outside foreign jurisdiction, and thus reaffirms the primacy of state sovereignty under contemporary international law.
References
Bonalume Neto, R. (2021). A nossa Segunda Guerra: os brasileiros em combate, 1942-1945. Sao Paulo: Editora Contexto.
Céspedes Proto, R. (2025). Justicia Natural e Imparcialidad Judicial en el reciente trabajo de David Sugarman sobre el caso Pinochet. En Las Fronteras Del Derecho, 4, 1-8. DOI:10.56754/2735-7236.2025.3365
Sugarman, D. (2024). The hidden histories of the Pinochet case. Journal of Law and Society, 51(4), 459-490. DOI:10.1111/jols.12499
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Luiz Ricardo Oliveira Lopes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The authors are the copyright holders of their articles published in this journal.
The journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
