international laws-of-war the-hague international-court-of-justice
Can Francois Hollande end up before The Hague for war crimes?
<p>Investigative reporters in France uncovered a French-Egyptian collaboration where the Egyptian military in covert aircraft struck civilians (by all indications those seeking to file for asylum in the EU) by air-to-surface rockets. Most probably the then-President of France, François Hollande is also implicated in that they did not cease to provide the necessary intelligence for the Egyptians to continue and carry out additional air strikes while they knew or should have known by carrying out their duties with ordinary care.</p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that this was a war crime, but I’m no expert.</p>
<p>If the above omission of Hollande is, in fact, a war crime, can ex-President Hollande end up before The Hague for assisting or carrying out war crimes, and on what charges?</p>
<p>A short English-language report on the matter:</p>
<p><a href="https://lejournaldelafrique.com/en/lafrique-daujourdhui/legypte-bombarde-des-civils-avec-laide-de-paris/?amp=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://lejournaldelafrique.com/en/lafrique-daujourdhui/legypte-bombarde-des-civils-avec-laide-de-paris/?amp=1</a></p>
<p>And the original in French:</p>
<p><a href="https://egypt-papers.disclose.ngo/fr/chapter/operation-sirli" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://egypt-papers.disclose.ngo/fr/chapter/operation-sirli</a></p>

<h2>Yes, one theory. Probably no, in practice</h2>
<p>Taking it as a given that the actions are war crimes and therefore engage the ICC’s subject matter jurisdiction, the people concerned are French and France is a subject to the Rome statute which engages the court’s personal jurisdiction even though Egypt has not ratified the Rome treaty and so the court’s territorial jurisdiction has not been engaged.</p>
<p>However, the ICC can only become involved if France is unable or unwilling to deal with the matter and if the crime is of sufficient gravity. On the first of these points, France is capable of dealing with such allegations if they are properly made (i.e. laid before the justice system as a bona fide complaint rather than speculation in a newspaper) and would probably do so. On the second, sadly, as tragic as the events are if true, on the scale of issues the ICC deals with, they are not particularly grave. Nation states are involved in extra-judicial killings all the time, this might be wrong and in some cases criminal but it does not engage the ICC.</p>
