RECOGNITION OF ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP TO LIBYAN JEWISH

The Court of Rome, with a recent verdict, approved the request formulated by the law firm of Avv. Roberto Coen, recognizing the Italian citizenship from the birth of a person born in Tripoli and in possession of Italian-Libyan citizenship, or a sort of "small Italian citizenship" that mainly interested the Libyan Jews who, after the establishment of the United Kingdom of Libya in December 1951, Libyan citizenship was denied for ethnic-religious reasons, and that it was transformed into Italian citizenship "pleno iure" with effect from 1 January 1948 by virtue of the entry into force of art. 3 of the Italian Constitution, according to a long-term and consolidated Jurisprudence implemented in Determination n. K.5.4. adopted by the Ministry of the Interior on 4/3/1987.

The Court has affirmed that the subsequent acquisition of Israeli citizenship is not impeding the persistence of Italian citizenship, since the applicant has never renounced Italian citizenship. The Court recognized that the application of the Israeli law “on return”, in fact, involved the acquisition of Israeli citizenship automatically and without the possibility of drawing explicit and spontaneous renunciation from Italian citizenship.

In this regard, the Court recalled the orientation of the jurisprudence of legitimacy according to which "the acquisition of foreign citizenship, even if accompanied by the transfer abroad of residence, does not necessarily imply the loss of Italian citizenship, which requires, in accordance with Article 8 of Law 555/1912, that said purchase occurred spontaneously, or if it occurred "without the will of the interested party", which was followed by a declaration of resignation of Italian citizenship, as prescribed by art. 8 n.2 of the aforementioned law 555/1912. Therefore, the acquired acquisition of foreign citizenship can not in itself be invoked, even for the purpose of jurisdiction, as the cause of the loss of Italian citizenship, requiring the attachment and demonstration of the indicated circumstances" (Court of Cassation n. 5250/1979).

For more information, please refer to the page https://www.coencoen.com/en/ebrei-libici