The ruling

Judge Antonio Piña of Spain's Audiencia Nacional, the National Court, has provisionally dismissed (sobreseimiento provisional) a complaint against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Israeli military commanders over the detention of a Spanish UNIFIL soldier in Lebanon. The decision was set out in a written order, and it follows the position taken by the prosecutors. The order can be challenged, and the judge has left room to reopen the case if new facts emerge.

Why the judge stepped back

The order relies on Spanish law, under which Spanish courts lack jurisdiction when a procedure is already open before an international tribunal, or when the offence was committed in a state where the accused is a national, unless that state is unwilling or unable to investigate. Piña found those conditions were met, at least provisionally. The UN Office of Legal Affairs told the court that the facts had been formally reported to the organization, that UNIFIL had passed them on to the Israeli authorities, and that the UN had opened an internal investigation. Israeli authorities are also investigating. In the order, the judge wrote:

“There is no data, however, that allows us to affirm the inactivity of those authorities or the current need for a subsidiary intervention by Spanish jurisdiction.”

The incident and the complaint

On 7 April, Israeli forces stopped a UN logistics convoy carrying food and other supplies to the Indonesian contingent at the border position, and held the Spanish soldier, according to the complaint, for 'less than an hour'. Defence Minister Margarita Robles later confirmed the soldier's nationality and the detention. The Foreign Ministry then summoned Dana Erlich, the chargé d'affaires at Israel's embassy in Madrid, to protest the detention.

Iustitia Europa, a party that El País describes as extraparliamentary, filed the complaint against Netanyahu and Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi, as well as the commander of the Northern Command. The complaint cited coercion, illegal detention and war crimes, and called the episode a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions and international humanitarian law.

What happens next

In May, at the prosecutors' request, the judge asked the UN whether it had opened an investigation, and the UN's reply became the basis for the decision. Parties have three days to seek reconsideration (recurso de reforma) and five days to file an appeal (recurso de apelación). The judge noted that the case could be reopened if there were a substantial change in the ongoing investigations or if new relevant elements appeared.