Slain Turks’ lawyers ask ICC to prosecute Israel

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(JTA) — Israel should be prosecuted for war crimes committed during the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, lawyers told an international court.

Lawyers representing the nine Turkish passengers who were killed aboard the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla trying to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, presented a brief with evidence of what they call war crimes and crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday.

The May 31 incident brought international condemnation on Israel.

Neither Israel nor Turkey is a signatory to the ICC.

"If there are war crimes, there is jurisdiction and the ICC should act," attorney Ugur Sevgili said, according to the French news agency AFP.

The ICC prosecutor will analyze the data to see if a full investigation is warranted, AFP reported, and that could take up to a year.
 

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