A lawyer representing Nicaragua has stressed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) the “urgent” need for Germany to suspend arms sales to Israel, arguing this weapons supply could make the country “complicit” in alleged genocide in Gaza.
The Central American country has asked the ICJ to grant a series of provisional measures including an order for Germany to “immediately suspend” its military aid to Israel.
Alain Pellet, who is a French lawyer and professor of International Law at Paris Nanterre University, told the UN’s top court that Nicaragua is “not accusing Germany of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza” but rather “failing in its obligation to prevent and suppress the crime of genocide.”
Germany, he said, “has a full understanding of the risks” that the weapons “it is furnishing Israel” may be used to commit genocide towards Palestinians in Gaza.
Pellet highlighted Article 3 of the Genocide Convention which classifies complicity in genocide as a punishable offense, arguing that Germany’s military aid to Israel is “straight from the definition of ‘complicity’ set out in Article 3.”
Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, who is Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, accused German military companies of “directly profiting from the situation,” telling the court that their share prices had risen in the six months of war in Gaza. Gomez maintained that the European country “can not but be aware” that the weapons it has been “supplying” Israel are being used in attacks in Gaza.
The ambassador and lawyer described the guaranteed supply of armaments from Germany as being “crucial to Israel’s pursuit of the attacks on Gaza.”
What happens next: With Monday’s hearing now wrapped for the day, Germany’s legal team is now preparing to make its case before the court on Tuesday.
CNN’s Inke Kappeler in Berlin contributed reporting to this post.
