Several associations filed a complaint on Tuesday, December 17 with the constitution of a civil party against a Franco-Israeli soldier, accused of torture, war crime, crime against humanity and genocide, against civilians arrested in Gaza in January , according to information from franceinfo.
This complaint, which franceinfo was able to consult, is brought by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and three Palestinian associations (Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights).
The soldier targeted is a Franco-Israeli national, identified by these associations as being at the origin of a video published by an X account on March 19. On this video, qualified at the time “abject and shocking” through the Quai d'Orsay, he films a man shackled, blindfolded, half undressed, with a rope around his neck, being extracted from a truck.
We hear a voice say: “Have you seen those bastards, nephew? […] he pissed himself. I'll show you his back, you'll laugh, they tortured him to make him talk.”
The video continues and we see several men crowded together, shackled, to whom the voice calls: “Were you happy on October 7?” ; and insults several times.
The complaint denounces the mistreatment inflicted on Gazan prisoners, subjected to physical abuse, beatings, drowning, electrocution, dog attacks, sexual and psychological abuse. She emphasizes the character “systemic” of these practices, and highlights the intentional nature of these acts which aim to “dehumanize” et “deny dignity”.
“These are patterns that we found a lot in testimonies that were collected directly in Gaza, from surviving victims, with testimonies describing the presence of minors, children arrested and subjected to the same acts of torture, once again with first-hand accounts It corresponds to patterns of perpetration that are systematic.denounces Clémence Bectarte, FIDH lawyer.
A first complaint against X was filed in April by three pro-Palestinian associations against this soldier, for the same facts. It was closed in September by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat), which considered that the facts were “insufficiently characterized”. Filing a complaint with the creation of a civil party, as is the case here, allows you to contact an investigating judge directly to relaunch the investigation, despite the negative opinion rendered by the Pnat.
