Germany's Top Court Dismisses Yemeni Drone Strike Case

Berlin, July 15 (AP) — Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has dismissed a long-running case brought by Yemeni plaintiffs, who alleged that the German government failed to fulfill its obligation to protect their relatives purportedly killed in a 2012 drone strike linked to a U.S. military installation in Germany.

After a decade-long journey through the German legal system, the court ruled that the German government can indeed be held accountable for protecting foreign citizens abroad, but only in scenarios where there is a "sufficient connection" to German state authority and a "serious danger of systematic violation" of international law. However, it determined that the circumstances of this case did not meet these criteria.

The plaintiffs claimed the Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany played a critical role in facilitating flight control data crucial for armed drone strikes in Yemen. This data transmission allegedly occurred via a satellite relay station, set up with the German government's knowledge and consent.

A lower court in 2019 found that the German government bore some responsibility to ensure U.S. drone operations from Ramstein comply with international law. However, it stopped short of enforcing a ban as advocated by human rights advocates. In 2020, a federal court reversed this ruling.

The supreme court concluded that the evidence provided did not demonstrate that the U.S. used unacceptable criteria under international law to determine military targets in Yemen.

The European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, representing the Yemeni plaintiffs, expressed disappointment, stating that "at a time when the adherence of state action to international law is increasingly being called into question, the court has failed to send a strong signal." They further commented that "individual legal protection remains a theoretical possibility without practical consequences." (AP) PY PY

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