The Prosecutor’s Office rejects that Spanish courts are competent to investigate Netanyahu
The Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court has ruled that the Spanish courts are not competent to investigate the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamín Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes and against humanity for having an open case in the International Criminal Court (TPI), which almost a year ago. This is stated by the Prosecutor’s Office in a report that requested in July the Central Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court regarding a complaint against Netanyahu and several senior military commanders for crimes against humanity in relation to the last June 8, when he was heading to the strip with humanitarian aid.
According to legal sources, the Prosecutor’s Office has reported against the admission of this complaint, based on the provisions of article 23 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ), which regulates the so -called Universal Justice. According to this article, the crimes of an international nature in which Spain can exercise its jurisdiction will not be pursued in our country when, among other cases, a procedure for its investigation and prosecution has been initiated in an international court constituted in accordance with the treaties and agreements in which Spain was a part.
That is the case of the TPI, which in November 2024 issued arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister and his former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, as the highest responsible for the War Crimes and Humanity Commission in the Strip at least since October 8, 2023; That is, one day after the terrorist attack of October 7 in Israel.
After the presentation of this report by the Prosecutor’s Office, the head of the Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court, Antonio Piña, must decide whether or not to admit the complaint. It was presented by the Spanish Sergio Toribio, a member of the Fleeta de la Libertad in Spain, and the Solidarity Committee with the Arab case and is directed, in addition to against Netanyahu, against the Minister of Defense; Vice Admiral David Saar Salama and other commanders for war crimes, humanity, illegal detention and degrading treatment.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs are protected in turn in the principle of universal jurisdiction to ask those Israeli leaders to approach the ship’s approach Masedoccurred on June 8 when he headed to the strip with humanitarian aid. Specifically, they request that a judicial investigation be opened, statements be taken to affected activists and evidence on the Israeli military operation is collected. They also claim to be cooperated with the International Criminal Court in open investigation on the situation in Palestine.
According to the story of the complaint, during the approach “drones, tear gas, non -lethal weapons were used and arbitrary arrest of the 12 crew members, all unarmed civilians, without prior warning or court order, in the absence of any military threat.”
The text denounces that the detainees – among them activists such as Greta Thunberg (Sweden), Rima Hassan (France) and Thiago Ávila (Brazil) – were transferred by force to Israel, incommunicado, stripped of their belongings and subjected to attempts at forced indoctrination, with threats to force them to see propaganda material.
The ship Mased He transported food, medicines and medical material for the Palestinian civilian population, in the context of a locking as illegal by the United Nations. (EFE)
