Spain to file ICC complaint over Israel’s mistreatment of Sumud flotilla activists

“I am concerned as a minister, and I am concerned as a Spanish citizen, and simply as a person, about any violation of a fundamental right, evidently. But for that, there are also legal channels: the International Criminal Court and also the Spanish courts when it concerns national citizens,” Marlaska said in an interview with public television broadcaster TVE on Monday.

He reiterated that criminal liabilities regarding individuals who might have been victims will be assessed and dealt with through the relevant national and international legal frameworks.

Marlaska also emphasized that boarding ships in international waters is subject to an international criminal law classification, as defined by clear conventions and also recognized within the national legal system, because “this would be a deprivation of liberty, absolutely illegal, for the people who were victims of these acts.”

Marlaska noted that the foremost priority is for the final 28 members of the flotilla to return to Spain “safe and sound.”

He underscored that the Spanish government “is absolutely proactive” in this case, “appearing before the International Criminal Court to defend the fundamental rights and public freedoms of Spanish citizens and other citizens.”

 “There will be time to respond from a legal perspective. The Spanish government has already stated this from the very beginning, as I mentioned, appearing before the International Criminal Court,” the senior Spanish official said.

He also said that the attorney general’s office has initiated investigative proceedings as well.

“I believe that, in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms, no one can say that we have not been defending them from minute one,” he said.

The remarks come as the Gaza flotilla activists were deported from the Israeli-occupied territories amid numerous accounts of their mistreatment in Israeli detention centers.

According to the Spanish EFE news agency, they reported a lack of access to legal counsel and were also unable to contact their families.

The activists added that armed personnel entered the cells accompanied by dogs, directing them towards their heads.

They said they were deprived of sleep, moved between cells to prevent them from resting, and were treated “worse than animals.”

Approximately 450 individuals involved in the flotilla were detained from last Wednesday to Friday as Israeli forces intercepted the vessels, which aimed to breach a naval blockade of Gaza and provide aid to Palestinians in the besieged region.

Zionist regime has maintained the blockade on Gaza, which is inhabited by nearly 2.4 million individuals, for nearly 18 years.

According to the health ministry of Gaza, Zionist regime’s attacks have claimed the lives of at least 67,160 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, in the besieged Gaza Strip since October 2023.