In a 56-page communication made public by the French investigative media outlet Blast on Monday, the 114 lawyers named President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu and 19 lawmakers of the National Assembly’s European Affairs Committee.
A communication to the ICC is the equivalent of a criminal complaint to the court on an alleged crime falling under its jurisdiction.
It is addressed to the Office of the ICC Prosecutor in accordance with Article 15 of the Rome Statute, which states that the prosecutor may open proprio motu investigations (i.e. on their own initiative) based on information relating to crimes within the court’s jurisdiction.
The lawyers, representing an NGO called Pour la Justice au Proche-Orient (“for justice in the Middle East”) note that: “Far from taking concrete measures to prevent the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians, the members of the French executive cited in this communication have continued to support the criminal actions of the government of Israel by providing military, political, economic, diplomatic and propaganda support to that state, including by providing the means to commit the crimes in question.”
According to them, “It has been demonstrated that the French executive branch has played a decisive role in providing support to Israel in various forms; and that this support has had a substantial effect on the commission of the crimes in question”.
“It has been demonstrated that the French authorities knew that they were (and still are) participating in the commission of the crimes in question, by aiding and abetting the perpetrators. Their knowledge of the consequences of their actions or conduct establishes the mens rea required for personal liability in cases of complicity by aiding and abetting,” they added.
In national or international criminal law, mens rea is a state of guilty mind that a person entertains while committing a crime.
The communication sets out the French executive’s knowledge of the crimes, that is, the statements made by Israeli leaders and officials inciting and announcing genocidal acts, and includes a factual summary of the various acts (including statements) by French officials that could be characterised as complicity.
“This communication also demonstrates that the French President and the ministers cited above acted, through a series of positive acts and omissions, in the exercise of their official functions, with full knowledge that their actions and omissions would provide substantial assistance to the perpetrators of the crimes concerned; such that they must be considered to have acted ‘with the aim of facilitating the commission of this/these crime(s)’, within the meaning of Article 25(3)(c) and (d) of the Rome Statute,” the lawyers wrote.
They cite, among others, statements by the French prime minister who, on 7 May, justified Israel’s actions in Gaza by saying: “We must not forget, however, that this bomb would not have exploded without a detonator. This detonator is the events of 7 October: a pogrom, there is no other word for it, which killed, tore apart and injured young girls, boys, children and babies.”
For the lawyers, Bayrou’s statement endorses Israel’s position and provides “explicit support for the manner in which the Israeli army is ‘responding'”.
A report by a coalition of NGOs in June accused France of “regularly and continuously” delivering military equipment to Israel since the start of its war on Gaza.
According to the study, deliveries have been continuous, both by sea and by air, since October 2023.
They include more than 15 million “bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles and other munitions of war” worth more than $8m, as well as 1,868 “parts and accessories for rocket launchers, grenades, flamethrowers, artillery, military rifles and hunting rifles” worth more than $2m.
