“They don’t respect the victims of war crimes by imposing the costs,” Gonzalo Boyé, the lawyer representing the three litigants, told The Electronic Intifada.
Boyé said this is the first time such costs have been ordered on plaintiffs in a suit involving universal jurisdiction over war crimes, a decision that sets a disturbing precedent for future litigation.
The United Nations Human Rights Council found that Israel’s attack on the civilian ships in 2010 “constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.”
In July 2010 the three Spanish citizens sued seven Israeli politicians and military officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under Spain’s universal jurisdiction law, which formerly allowed the national courts to prosecute crimes of global significance that took place outside the country’s borders.
But since the filing of the case, Spain has significantly hampered its courts from prosecuting international crimes, particularly when they carry geopolitical consequences.