Israeli Commanders Face Trial in Turkish Court

[Jos]

A Turkish court will convene on Nov. 6 of this year to hear a trial in which four top Israeli commanders are charged for their role in a 2010 Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine Turks dead.

An indictment prepared by an İstanbul prosecutor seeks 10 aggravated life imprisonment sentences for each of the four Israeli commanders, including the country's former Chief of General Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. Eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish-American were killed when the Israeli Navy attacked an international aid flotilla trying to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza in May 2010.

A court proceedings report accepted by the İstanbul 7th High Criminal Court says one copy of the indictment will be sent to the Israeli authorities after being translated into English. The report also added that the court will also instruct the İstanbul Bar Directorate to appoint lawyers for the suspects.

First Mavi Marmara court hearing scheduled for Nov. 6

Charges include voluntary manslaughter, attempted voluntary manslaughter, intentional injury, incitement to assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, abduction or confiscation of maritime vessels, property damage, false arrest, and mistreatment of prisoners.
Under international law, Gaza's siege is illegal. As an occupying power, Fourth Geneva provisions are inviolable. Israel must protect residents it controls. Violating its obligations is an international crime.

Moreover, blockades are acts of war. They're defined as:

* surrounding a nation or objective with hostile forces;
* measures to isolate an enemy;
* encirclement and besieging;
* preventing the passage in or out of supplies, military forces, or aid in time of or as an act of war; and
* an act of naval warfare to block access to an enemy's coastline and deny entry to all vessels and aircraft.

International water interdictions constitute piracy. Under Article 101 of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas and 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), maritime piracy includes:

any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation...against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State (and) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating (such) an act.

Free, unimpeded humanitarian relief can't be blocked. Even under conditions of armed conflict, the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflict at Sea (June 1994), states:

If the civilian population of the blockaded territory is inadequately provided with food and other objects essential for its survival, the blockading party must provide for free passage of such foodstuffs and other essential supplies.

According to The Times:

(a) United Nations report concluded last September that Israel had been within its legal rights but had used excessive force in the action." Israel also claimed "its commandos acted in self-defense during the raid, opening fire to save their own lives after they encountered tough resistance on the ship's deck.

Fact check
Israel's attack was premeditated. Activists on board were unarmed and nonviolent. In September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council’s fact-finding mission held Israel entirely culpable.
Activist Post: Israeli Commanders Face Trial in Turkish Court