A group of lawyers announced at a Berlin press conference on Sept. 19, that a criminal complaint was filed against German government officials and arms trade executives for aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The lawyers are acting with the support of the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and Law for Palestine.
The charges were filed at the Office of the Federal Prosecutor in Karlsruhe (Generalbundesanwaltschaft) against 11 high-ranking officials of the former and current German government and CEOs of arms manufacturers: former Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, former Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck; current Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche, Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius; and CEO of Rolls-Royce Solutions GmbH Dr. Jörg Stratmann; CEO of Dynamit Nobel Defence GmbH Michael Humbek; and current and former CEOs of RENK Group AG Dr. Alexander Sagel and Susanne Wiegand.
According to the plaintiffs’ press release:
“The Federal Prosecutor must respect the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and initiate investigations on potential crimes if sufficient grounds for suspicion are apparent. In the over 100-pages-long criminal complaint, the lawyers provide extensive evidence for the predicate crimes under the Code of Crimes against International Law (CCAIL), namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed by Israel. Furthermore, the complaint provides extensive evidence for aiding and abetting acts of genocide by German officials through the approval of arms deliveries.
“Germany is one of the biggest supporters to Israel’s annihilation campaign in Gaza. German arms exports to Israel increased tenfold since 2023 and amounted to about half a billion euros (€485,103,796) in total. In August 2025, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that his government has stopped issuing new export licences for weapons that could be used in Gaza ‘until further notice.’ However, existing licences are still being fulfilled, and new licences continue to be approved for arms allegedly not intended for use in Gaza, but effectively still contributing to the killing of civilians in Palestine and the wider region. The Chancellor did not specify how Germany would be able to control where and how those weapons could be used.”
As the press release points out, the criminal complaint specifies several weapons systems which were used by the Israeli army in Gaza, including combat drones (Heron TP), warships (Sa´ar 6-class corvette), and various kinds of ammunition (including 120 mm tank ammunition) and mechanical parts. “Germany has also delivered an abundance of the handheld anti-tank weapon ‘Matador.’ It has since become a TikTok trend among Israeli soldiers to film themselves firing those weapons at residential buildings to destroy Palestinian homes for fun.
“Today’s complaint comes days after UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Palestine found that Israel has committed four acts of genocide, defined under the Genocide Convention, against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which joins mounting reports and evidence based declaration by most respected human rights organizations and a resolution passed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) which states that Israel’s conduct meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide.
“The German Federal Prosecutor can no longer shield its ruling elite from accountability and the rule of law. German officials can’t hide behind distorted legal reasoning while denying the mounting evidence for genocide committed with German arms. The time for accountability is now.”
Today’s legal action is very significant to change Germany’s current historically irresponsible course and to take those in positions of power to account.
