The Swiss prosecutor confirmed the filing but declined to provide details about the nature and number of complaints.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is the subject of criminal charges during his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Swiss prosecutors confirmed, as Israel is accused of committing war crimes in Gaza.

“The criminal complaints will be examined according to the usual procedure,” the federal prosecutor’s office said on Friday, adding that it would contact the Swiss Foreign Ministry to examine the question of the person concerned’s immunity.

In theory, third countries have no criminal jurisdiction over the sitting heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers of other countries.

The reasons for the complaints and who filed them were not disclosed.

A spokesman for Herzog’s office did not comment on the Swiss prosecutor’s statement, saying only that Herzog was in Davos to present Israel’s position on the situation in Gaza.

The AFP news agency obtained a statement purportedly made by those behind the complaint entitled “Legal action against crimes against humanity.” It was said that several unnamed people had filed a complaint with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and with the cantonal authorities in Basel, Bern and Zurich.

The statement said the plaintiffs were seeking criminal prosecution in parallel with a case before the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) of South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in its offensive in Gaza.

While it could take years for the ICJ to make a final ruling, South Africa has asked the court to order “interim measures” – a temporary order for Israel to end the war – while the case is pending.

Israel called South Africa’s accusations “baseless” and a “blood libel.”

Universal jurisdiction

The reasons for the complaints filed with Swiss prosecutors are unclear, said Al Jazeera diplomatic editor James Bays. They could refer to something that took place in Switzerland when Herzog was attending the Davos summit, he explained, or they could refer to previous statements that Herzog had made about Palestinians and that were also made by the South African legal department in The Hague were quoted when presenting their case.

Days after Oct. 7 — when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people — Israel’s president said that not just Hamas militants but “an entire nation” were responsible for the violence and that Israel was fighting “until we…” break their backs.”

After the Hamas attack, Israel launched a heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 24,500 people, 70 percent of them women and childrenaccording to the United Nations.

If criminally prosecuted, such a case filed in the Swiss court would be handled under “universal jurisdiction,” William Shabas, a professor of international criminal and human rights law at Middlesex University in the United Kingdom, told Al Jazeera.

Under international law, universal jurisdiction is based on the principle that certain crimes are so serious that their perpetrators must be prosecuted across borders. This means that states or international organizations can lodge legal complaints against individuals, regardless of their nationality or the place where the alleged crime was committed. Such cases are usually related to international crimes.

“It used to be extremely rare for something like this to happen, but especially in European countries there are increasing efforts to prosecute such crimes – genocide, war crimes, etc. – using universal jurisdiction,” Shabas said.

“The obstacle would be the supposed immunity of a president of a country – that will be a real problem,” he added.

As for the question of immunity, the statement seen by AFP suggested that it could be lifted “in certain circumstances”, including in cases of alleged crimes against humanity, adding that “these conditions are met in this case”.

Another obstacle to the prosecutor’s actions, according to Shabas, would be to obtain “a certain level of political approval.”