Lawyers seek review of ICC refusal to probe Gaza flotilla
Lawyers called Thursday for a review of the International
Criminal Court prosecutor's decision not to investigate the storming by Israel
of an aid flotilla that was heading to Gaza.
A team of lawyers representing the government of Comoros
filed a request for the court to order Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to reconsider
her refusal to launch a probe into the May 31, 2010, storming of one of the
vessels in the flotilla, which was sailing under a Comoros flag, reports AP.
Bensouda said in November last year that there was a
"reasonable basis to believe that war crimes" were committed on the
Mavi Marmara, where eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed and
several other pro-Palestinian activists were wounded by Israeli commandos, but
that the case wasn't "of sufficient gravity" to merit an ICC case.
In a written filing, the lawyers wrote that, "the
interests of justice and fairness, which are the core of the ICC's mandate,
strongly militate in favor of the Prosecutor reconsidering her decision."
Israel, which isn't a member of the court, dismissed the
move as a waste of time.
"The prosecutor already decided that the events surrounding
the Mavi Marmara do not need to be looked into. As far as we are concerned this
affair is over," said Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for Israel's foreign
ministry.
Thursday's submission came two weeks after Bensouda
announced she would carry out a preliminary probe into possible war crimes in
the Palestinian territories since last summer, a move that followed the
Palestinian Authority's decision to join the court.
The storming of the aid flotilla predates the Palestinians'
recognition of the court, but lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice said the prosecutor
should see the bigger picture.
"It's now very difficult for the prosecutor to pretend
that all these things are flowing in separate channels," Nice said in a
telephone interview. "They're all part of the same rather large stream
that has been the subject of great troubles ... for decades and she now has an
opportunity to get the court to look at from a judicial point of view."
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