William Julié provided his legal analysis of the communication submitted by the NGO Shurat HaDin to the International Criminal Court, which illustrates the complexity of the mechanisms for triggering international criminal responsibility and the particularly high evidentiary requirements before the ICC.
He noted that the NGO has indicated its view that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez could incur liability for complicity in war crimes, through exports to Iran of so-called dual-use components, including detonators and other explosives-related materials. William Julié pointed out that, for this characterisation to be upheld, the ICC Prosecutor would have to establish that goods were transferred with knowledge of their potential use in the commission of war crimes.
William Julié recalled that this communication does not amount to a referral of the matter to the ICC.