The National Court has asked the United Nations if it has already launched any investigation into what happened on April 7, when the Israeli Army illegally detained a Spanish peacekeeper who was part of the UN mission in Lebanon. According to legal sources, Judge Antonio Piña has addressed the UN, at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, before deciding whether to open a case in Spain against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Herzi Halevi, as requested in a complaint by the political party Iustitia Europa.
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The complaint considers that what happened in Lebanon “constitutes a flagrant violation” of the UN Security Council resolutions and International Humanitarian Law and, therefore, requests to initiate a case to determine the “criminal responsibility” beyond the soldiers who detained the Spanish soldier, which could lead to Netanyahu’s responsibility. Iustitia Europa, the party led by lawyer Luis Pardo, believes that there may be crimes of coercion, illegal detention, and war crimes.
The National Court is the competent body to investigate crimes committed against Spaniards abroad. The head of the Investigative Court number 6, Antonio Piña, initially requested a report from the Prosecutor’s Office which was presented last Friday. Piña relies on the response from the prosecution and has now addressed the UN, as El Español reported and EL PAÍS has confirmed, to indicate whether there is an investigation into these events, since, if so, Spain could not initiate another. Both the United Nations and the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the International Criminal Court (ICC) can initiate investigations with information provided by individuals, States, NGOs, or the UN Security Council itself.
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The Spanish peacekeeper was detained by Netanyahu’s army for just under an hour, after Israeli soldiers who have invaded southern Lebanon blocked the passage of a UN logistics convoy. It was the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, who revealed the nationality of the soldier and, subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, Dana Erlich, “to protest the unjustifiable detention,” an event that is practically unprecedented.