Italian NGOs seek attention with lawsuit against China

Chinese analysts and Italians reached by the Global Times slammed some Italian non-governmental organizations for trying to steal the spotlight after the latter claimed that they would sue China for COVID-19 compensation, following the US.

In Italy, the Oneurope non-profit organization launched a class action suit against China over COVID-19, claiming that China failed to react promptly according to obligations laid down by the WHO.

The test page for the launch of the class action by the organization has been online since Tuesday afternoon but has already had 335 contacts. Italian consumer association Codacons is also considering a class action suit against China. Its president, Carlo Rienzi, told the media that they are working with an American law firm to sue China in the US as Italy’s consumer protection law is incomplete. The lawsuit they claimed are not only ridiculous political games to steal the spotlight and scapegoat China but impracticable according to law, said experts in law reached by the Global Times.

“No matter where the lawsuit is filed, Italy or the US, China enjoys sovereign immunity in these countries’ civil judicial courts, which is a basic principle of international law,” said Huang Feng, director of Beijing Normal University’s Institute for International Criminal Law.

The lawsuit is obviously against the main cooperative trend between China and Italy. It is possible that these organizations are colluding with the US given Washington’s deep cooperation with and influence on European NGOs, analysts said.