Alfred de Zayas, the former UN independent adviser who has taken part in a Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition webinar and contributed to petitions and articles about the so-called Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, last year submitted a petition to the Internationa Criminal Court, calling for an investigation of the complicity of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in the genocide in Gaza.

The ICC made no response to the petition, so a new petition has been submitted, calling for the investigation of von der Leyen, EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas and other European officials. It alleges that von der Leyen is responsible for aiding and abetting the commission of crimes and violations of international humanitarian law, within the meaning of Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Mrs von der Leyen enjoys no functional immunity before the International Criminal Court by virtue of Article 27 of the Rome Statute.

On May 4, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, called for the accountability of van der Leyen and other EU officials for complicity in genocide: “The fact that the two highest figures of the EU continue business as usual engagements with Israel is beyond deplorable …I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then. And they will have to understand that immunity cannot equate with impunity.”

The new petition, submitted by the Geneva international Peace Researched Institute, is signed by 37 prominent experts in international law, including de Zayas, Marjorie Cohn, Richard Falk, Craig Mokhiber and others, and also academics such as Norman Finkelstein and Glenn Diesen.

Members of the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition were offered the opportunity to sign the petition, a reflection of Nicaragua’s work to bring justice to Palestine at the International Court of Justice. In the short time available only two Coalition members were able to sign, John Perry (described as ‘Human rights activist’, Masaya, Nicaragua) and Martha Schmidt (Co-chair, Human Rights Framework Project, International Committee, National Lawyers Guild, Bothell, Washington).

Of course, the ICC may take no action on the petition, but it increases the pressure on the international justice system to act to stop the genocide.

The petition and signatures are here.