Italian Fascist War Crimes in Ethiopia - Societa italiana di storia ...

Italian Fascist War Crimes in Ethiopia 133
Opening of an Italian Government Prosecution of
Graziani
The Italian Government, though unsympathetic to Ethiopian attempts to try
Italians for war crimes in Africa in the 1930s, now decided to prosecute
Graziani for collaboration with the Germans, in Italy, from 8 September 1943
to the end of hostilities. A trial of the marshal, which had no connections whatsoever
with Ethiopia, was initiated on 4 January 1949, but was soon adjourned,
to be resumed in the following year. 76
Demarche by the Ethiopian Minister in London
Despite Italian press opposition, and the absence of diplomatic relations
with Italy, the Ethiopian Government made one last effort to bring the two marshals
to trial. On 6 September 1949 the Ethiopian Minister in London, Ato
Abebe Retta, called on the Italian Ambassador in Britain, Duke Gallarti-Scotti,
with an aide-memoire in which the Ethiopian Government demanded the surrender
of Graziani and Badoglio, as war criminals. The Duke bluntly refused to
receive it. 77
This diplomatic incident caught the notice of The Times, which noted, on 8
September: “Where no diplomatic relations exist between two countries, it is
sometimes usual for one Government to approach another through the representatives
of the two countries in the capital of a third. The Government
approached is, however, within its rights in refusing to accept any such
démarche.” 78
The implications of the incident were not lost on Pemberton-Pigott. He
noted, on 13 September:
It is possible that the Ethiopian Government may now ask His Majesty’s
Government to refer their request for the surrender of Graziani and
Badoglio to the four Ambassadors in Rome.
Should they do so it is submitted that another attempt should be made
to persuade them that it is very undesirable to press this demand. Apart
from the effect on the debate on the future of Eritrea which is about to
take place and on relations generally between Italy and Ethiopia, it is most
u n l i kely that either Graziani or Badoglio are now medically fit to stand