European TV: French lawyer says Israel punishes Palestinian prisoners' corpses

"A number of inmates die in prison and Israel refuses to return the bodies, i.e. Israel enforces sentences on corpses. So we notify the families through the Red Cross that they have died, but the family does not get a death certificate, and it cannot even be sure, it is never sure, whether death has occurred or not, and the bodies are buried in cemeteries which are numbered. The person becomes a number and continues to serve the sentence when dead."

This is what Europeans listen to on Euronews (funded among others by the European Union), and other European news outlets about Israel. Gilles Devers is a French lawyer and is interviewed in French by Spanish-speaking journalist Consuelo Maldonado.The transcript has been translated with the help of Google.  You can read the original and watch the video HERE.  Bear in mind that Euronews offers "information from a European perspective".

Euronews:
"Maître Gilles Devers, good evening. You are the spokesman for the group of lawyers who filed in January 2009, a complaint before the International Criminal Court for war crimes against Israeli officers. Since then, has there been progress?"

Gilles Devers:
"The facts were established by the Goldstone report, everyone knows that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed. If Palestine has jurisdiction and cannot exercise it because of the occupation, it may transfer it to the International Criminal Court. Currently, we are in a waiting phase, which corresponds, unfortunately, to a double standard that marks the life of international law, but the crime is too big to be hidden."

Euronews:
"You have been appointed by the Minister of Justice in Gaza to defend the rights of Palestinian prisoners. Are there any plan to file a new complaint with the ICC?"

Gilles Devers:
"For prisoners, it is the systematic torture, judgments that are not fair and also there are the conditions of detention, three chapters of international law violations. So yes, the files of prisoners will be filed with the International Criminal Court."


Euronews:
"You also investigating another case, in Gaza it is called the "cemeteries number" (cimetières numéro), what is it?"

Gilles Devers:
"A number of inmates die in prison and Israel refuses to return the bodies, i.e. Israel enforces sentences on corpses. So we notify the families through the Red Cross that they have died, but the family does not get a death certificate, and it cannot even be sure, it is never sure, whether death occurred or not, and the bodies are buried in cemeteries which are numbered. The person becomes a number and continues to serve the sentence when dead."

Euronews:
"How many cases do you you mean?"

Gilles Devers:
"During our last visit to Gaza, we worked with the authorities and found 350 families that were involved."

Euronews:
"Let us recall now the military blockade. You also work to unlock the export of goods from Gaza. What are the legal arguments that Israel uses to keep this blockade? "

Gilles Devers:
"Security reasons, which does not mean anything. Who can tell me what is the security reason which prohibits the export of flowers from Gaza? These flowers are expected in the Netherlands, they are registered and we have a European agreement dated September 2011 which came into force in January 2012. The European Union, which feels guilty for not helping Palestine more, has waived tariffs on Palestinian exports. To the extent that trade for these products is free, we don't have to go through Israeli customs and exporters are getting organized, indeed, for exporting flowers directly from Gaza towards Europe. "

Euronews:
"You talk about flowers, are there other other products?"

Gilles Devers:
The European Union is still playing a double game. It said that waiving customs duties do not apply to fruits and vegetables, as if the European market could be threatened by fruits and vegetables that come from Gaza. For the moment, Gaza can export the flowers, and processed agricultural products.

The blockade is illegal, it is recognized as such by the UN and there are, alas, a consensus of Western powers to act as if nothing had happened. This is outrageous and we are working to undermine the blockade legally.