Lawyers to Al Jazeera Net: The complaint against the French-Israeli soldier has not ended despite its being dropped policy

Paris- The French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution Office closed the case of a complaint filed “against an anonymous person” demanding a detailed investigation of a French-Israeli soldier “without taking any further action” due to “insufficient evidence.”

This comes after the “March 30 Movement”, the Association of Palestinians in France, and the “Justice and Rights Without Borders” organization submitted a complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Paris last April, accusing the soldier, named Yuniel Onona, of committing “crimes of torture and barbarism” during an operation he carried out. The occupation army in Gaza.

The legal team, headed by French lawyer Gilles Duver, believes that the prosecution’s decision is “surprising” and “political” because the video clip that spread on social media platforms on March 19 is sufficient evidence to prove that the crime of torture was committed by the soldier with dual nationality and requires opening an investigation. .

Political decision

The prosecution stated in a brief decision – a copy of which was obtained by Al Jazeera Net – that “at the end of examining this procedure, the facts that were denounced appear to be insufficiently described, and the elements presented in support of the complaint are not sufficient to prove the existence of possible material acts of collusion.”

Commenting on this, lawyer Dovier described the decision as “worse than a cartoon,” adding, “We know that the Public Prosecutor’s Office is not independent in France and falls under the command of the political authority, so it is up to them to bear responsibility for such a shocking and unfair decision in a context in which it is committed.” There is widespread torture in the Gaza Strip, and we see this daily on Al Jazeera.”

The expert in international law indicated – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that there is a “clear political will” to protect the Israeli aggressor and a consistent approach from diplomacy and the French authorities, which have not taken any position on genocide for more than 11 months, stressing that “the biggest loser is justice in France.” “.

For her part, lawyer Lucy Simon from the legal team confirmed that the complaint was based on good foundations and supported by many documents sufficient to open an investigation. She said, “We are not talking at this stage about a trial or conviction, but we are well aware of the inflammatory and political nature of this type of matter, so today we are dealing with a political issue more than a legal one.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Simone believes that the prosecution would have liked to obtain the identity of the victim, but as a center for combating crimes against humanity and war crimes, it is their responsibility to search for this evidence, as she put it.

Given the sufficiency of the evidence, which includes the phrases uttered by the soldier that condemn him beyond a reasonable doubt, lawyer Abdel Majeed Marari considers the prosecution’s decision “an insult to French law due to political considerations weighing in favor of justice.”

In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, he denounced “double standards” because “the prosecution did not deal in the same way with the case of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for example, as it worked diligently on the file, accepted it in its entirety, and opened the investigation.”

Evasion strategy

It is noteworthy that more than 4,000 soldiers with French and Israeli nationalities have joined the fight alongside the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October. French is considered the second most represented foreign nationality in the ranks of the occupation army, after American nationality.

Because the French prosecution’s decision was very brief and did not provide a sufficient description to justify the reason for the rejection, lawyer Marari, who is familiar with the details of the case, explains that “it did not want to make efforts to examine the evidence or open an investigation that would certainly lead to other follow-ups, especially since there are more than 4,000 A dual nationality soldier in Gaza.

In the same context, the speaker referred to following an “evasion strategy” because if the recruit is investigated and arrested at the border, it will be revealed that he did not commit the crimes alone while there were other French-Israeli soldiers fighting alongside the occupation army.

In turn, lawyer Gilles Duver does not rule out that the prosecution’s decision is linked to its fear of drifting away and opening the door to investigation into the rest of the dual nationality soldiers in Gaza, in addition to the mercenary file, stressing that “the prosecution must understand that we will not stop at this point and as long as France prefers silence, it must.” Withdrawal from the Security Council And who International Court of Justice Which explicitly declared that “the military occupation must end immediately.”

Legal alternative

Since the Public Prosecution does not want to accept the complaint to open an investigation, it will be referred to the investigating judges through a complaint accompanied by the civil prosecution, which is a kind of intensive investigation that is conducted to obtain more elements about this French-Israeli soldier, and also about the acts of torture in general that are being committed. Against the Palestinians, according to what lawyer Lucy Simon explained.

Regarding this legal alternative, Dovier explains, “We have a tactic in French law that allows victims to bypass classifications. When there is a crime, we can file a civil lawsuit immediately according to the Code of Criminal Procedure. In turn, we will consider this an opportunity for trial and we will go to the senior investigating judges,” stressing that “The matter is not over yet and the case has only just begun.”

He continued, “We have a very long battle ahead of us, as we must push the Paris Prosecutor’s Office to recognize that when it makes a decision regarding a war zone that is subject to the control of international courts, it is obligated to comply with what international law stipulates because it is unacceptable for it to ignore the decisions of international justice. “This represents a very serious legal error.”

To understand the importance of civil parties in such cases, Lawyer Marari explained to Al Jazeera Net that the role of the public prosecutor is to represent the prosecution, follow up and investigate when the complaint is submitted, and if he does not wish to do so, the victim has the right to skip him and contact the investigating judge directly.

The Court of Cassation considers this a fundamental right for victims. Therefore, when the victim becomes a civil party, the judge is obligated to open the file even if he is not convinced of the case, according to Marari.

The lawyer revealed the possibility of the French League for Human Rights joining the civil parties, stressing that work is continuing to coordinate efforts to start a second phase of this case within the next two weeks at most.