Israeli soldier faces criminal complaint in Slovenia

The police and the prosecution service in Nova Gorica have received a criminal complaint against an Israeli soldier who is on vacation in Slovenia for atrocities in Gaza, the magazine Mladina reports online. This is reportedly the first criminal complaint against an Israeli soldier in Slovenia.

The criminal complaint says that the soldier, who Mladina says is on vacation in a tourist town along the Soča River, west, was on active duty in Gaza, CE Report quotes STA.

The information and evidence in the criminal complaint indicate that he was involved in military activities that could constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

He is said to have been active in the Netzarim corridor, a 7-kilometre wide military zone the Israeli army created during the Gaza war to separate northern and southern Gaza.

The Nova Gorica Police Department confirmed for the STA on Friday that they had received the criminal complaint and that they were still looking into it.

"We cannot provide more information at this moment. However, we will inform the state prosecutor's office about all findings."

The criminal complaint is said to contain a detailed account of events and actions, along with evidence in the form of videos and photos, on the basis of which there is reasonable suspicion the soldier took part in committing war crimes involving deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and the forced displacement of civilians.

Several soldiers who served in the area of that corridor told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz last December about the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians. According to unnamed soldiers, they were ordered to shoot anyone who entered the corridor, regardless of whether they were civilians.

Mladina does not say who filed the criminal complaint.