Assessing the Gravity Threshold under the ICC Statute. Criteria and Methods in the Light of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Case

On 6 November 2015, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), by 3 votes to 2, dismissed the Prosecutor’s appeal against Pre-Trial Chamber I’s ‘Decision on the request of the Union of the Comoros to review the Prosecutor’s decision not to initiate an investigation’ of 16 July 2015. The decision originated from proceedings started in May 2013, when the Comoros, a State party to the ICC Statute, submitted a referral to the ICC Prosecutor in accordance with Articles 12(2)(a) and 14 ICC Statute requesting that the Prosecutor open an investigation into the 31 May 2010 interception of a humanitarian aid flotilla – bound for the Gaza Strip – by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which resulted in the commission of international crimes. One of the vessels involved was registered in the Comoros.