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Paris- The French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office has closed the complaint filed “against an unknown person” demanding a detailed investigation into a French-Israeli soldier “without taking any further action” due to “insufficient evidence”.
This comes after the March 30 Movement and the Palestinian Association in France The organization “Justice and Rights Without Borders” filed a complaint with the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office last April, accusing the soldier, named Yunel Onona, of committing “torture and barbaric crimes” during an operation carried out by the occupation army in Gaza.
The legal team, headed by French lawyer Gilles Duvier, 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 dual-national soldier committed the crime of torture and requires opening an investigation.
Political decision
A brief decision by the prosecution – a copy of which was obtained by Al Jazeera Net – stated that, “At the end of examining this procedure, the facts that were denounced appear not to be adequately described, and the elements presented to support the complaint are not sufficient to prove the existence of possible material acts of collusion.”
Commenting on this, lawyer Duvier described the decision as “worse than a caricature”, adding: “We know that the prosecutor’s office is not independent in France and is under the control of the political power, so it is up to them to take responsibility for such a shocking and unjust decision in a context where torture is being committed on a large scale in the Gaza Strip and we see it daily on Al Jazeera.”
The international law expert, speaking to Al Jazeera Net, pointed out that there is a “clear political will” to protect the Israeli aggressor and a consistent approach from French diplomacy and authorities, who have not taken any position on the matter. genocide For more than 11 months, he has been stressing that “the biggest loser is justice in France.”
For her part, lawyer Lucy Simon from the legal team confirmed that the complaint was well-founded and supported by ample documentation 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 rather than a legal one.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Simone believes that the prosecution wanted to obtain the victim's identity, but as a centre for combating crimes against humanity and war crimes, they have a responsibility to search for this evidence, she said.
Given the sufficiency of the evidence, which includes the statements uttered by the soldier and which incriminate him beyond any doubt, lawyer Abdelmajid Merari considers the prosecution’s decision to be “an insult to French law because it favours political considerations over justice.”
In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, he denounced the “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 hard on the file, accepted it in full, and opened an investigation.”
Evasion strategy
It is noteworthy that more than 4,000 soldiers holding French and Israeli nationalities have joined the fighting alongside the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip since October 7th Past. French is the second most represented foreign nationality in 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 “they did not want to make the effort to examine the evidence or open an investigation that would certainly lead to other prosecutions, especially since there are more than 4,000 soldiers with dual nationality in Gaza.”
In the same context, the spokesman pointed out that an “evasion strategy” was followed because if the recruit was investigated and arrested at the border, it would be revealed that he did not commit the crimes alone, with other French-Israeli soldiers fighting alongside the occupation army.
In turn, lawyer Gil Dovere does not rule out that the prosecution’s decision is linked to its fear of drifting and opening the door to investigating the rest of the dual-nationality soldiers in Gaza, in addition to the file MercenariesHe stressed that “the prosecution must understand that we will not stop at this point, and as long as France prefers silence, it must withdraw from the Security Council.” And International Court of Justice which explicitly declared that “the military occupation must end immediately.”
Legal alternative
Since the public prosecutor does not want to accept the complaint to open an investigation, it will be referred to the investigating judges through a complaint accompanied by a civil claim, a kind of intensive investigation carried out to obtain more information about this French-Israeli soldier, and also about the acts of torture in general committed against Palestinians, according to what lawyer Lucie Simon explained.
Regarding this legal alternative, Duvier explains, “We have a tactic in French law that allows victims to bypass classifications. When there is a crime, we can immediately file a civil lawsuit under the Code of Criminal Procedure. In turn, we will consider this an opportunity for a trial and we will go to the senior investigating judges,” stressing that “the matter is not over yet and the case has just begun.”
“We have a very long battle ahead of us, where we have to get the Paris prosecutor's office to recognize that when it makes a decision on a war zone under the control of international courts, it is obliged to comply with what international law stipulates, because it is unacceptable to disregard international justice decisions, and this represents a very serious legal error,” he continued.
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 centered on representing the prosecution, following up and investigating when the complaint is filed, and if he does not wish to do so, the victim has the right to bypass 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 by 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 ongoing to coordinate efforts to start a second phase of this case within the next two weeks at most.
