Swiss prosecutors examine complaints against visiting Israeli president

Swiss prosecutors say they are examining several complaints against visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as reports suggested NGOs are accusing him of “incitement to genocide” in Gaza.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) confirms it received “several criminal complaints” against Herzog, who is at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this week.

“The criminal complaints are now being examined in accordance with the usual procedure,” the OAG says in an email sent to AFP, adding that the office is in contact with Switzerland’s foreign ministry “to examine the question of the immunity of the person concerned.”

It provides no details on the specific complaints filed.

The Swiss Keystone-ATS news agency reports that one of the complaints came from an NGO called Legal Action Against Genocide. The NGO is calling for Herzog to be prosecuted “for incitement to genocide and crimes against humanity,” the news agency says.

The complaint, it says, deems he played “an active role in the ideological justification of genocide and war crimes in Gaza, by erasing all distinction between the civilian population and combatants.”