The pro-Palestinian Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) said that it had petitioned Lithuania’s Constitutional Court on Monday after authorities rejected its request to investigate an Israeli dental student in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The organization alleges that the student, identified as S.G., is a former IDF soldier who was involved in war crimes and genocide while serving in the Gaza Strip.
The petition is the latest step in the foundation’s legal campaign against Israelis in Europe, particularly against S.G.
The foundation previously filed a complaint against the student, but Lithuanian authorities declined to open proceedings against him. Separately, the HRF filed an unusual complaint in Germany against a senior prosecutor, accusing him of failing to investigate another Israeli whom the organization alleged had been involved in war crimes.
In its March complaint to Lithuanian authorities, the HRF claimed that S.G. served in the “Vampire Empire” company of the 52nd Battalion in the 401st Armored Brigade.
HRF accuses IDF's 52nd Battalion of killing Hind Rajab
The organization alleged that he participated in the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including UNRWA headquarters and the Shifa Hospital compound, in March and April 2024.
It also claimed that his unit was involved in the killing of Hind Rajab, the girl for whom the organization is named, as well as members of her family and two paramedics. The complaint did not include findings from an investigative authority or court supporting those claims.
The organization submitted what it said were photographs of the student wearing an IDF uniform in a combat zone in the Gaza Strip. According to the HRF, one photograph purportedly shows S.G. standing in the turret of his tank.
The HRF alleged that after it confidentially filed the complaint in Lithuania, the student deleted material documenting his military service, including posts and photographs. The organization said it had already preserved the material for its investigative file.
After the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office rejected the complaint, the country's courts also rejected the organization’s subsequent appeals.
The HRF has now petitioned the Constitutional Court, arguing that “Lithuania is violating its constitution and its obligations under international law because it refuses to apply the principle of universal jurisdiction in a case in which the suspect is present on its territory.”
Hezbollah associate founded the Hind Rajab Foundation
The Hind Rajab Foundation is a subsidiary of the March 30 Movement, which was founded by Diab Abu Jahjah, a 54-year-old Lebanese man born in the Bint Jbail district.
Abu Jahjah obtained Belgian citizenship through his marriage to a Belgian woman, whom he has since divorced. He is a Shi’ite Muslim with close ties to Hezbollah. He has been barred from entering the UK and appears on a list of people prohibited from flying over US airspace.
Abu Jahjah said his organization had identified 24 suspects connected to the incident, including S.G.
“Normalizing people accused of destroying Gaza and committing genocide while they study at a university in Lithuania sends a dangerous message,” he said. “Lithuania is thereby becoming complicit in granting immunity, and it has a constitutional and moral obligation to uphold international law and ensure that its territory is not used as a refuge for those accused of war crimes.”
The organization’s head of litigation, Natasha Brak, accused Lithuania of hiding behind "procedural technicalities to evade its international obligations.
"The prosecutor’s refusal to open an investigation solely because the alleged offenses were committed outside the country’s territory contradicts the very purpose of the principle of universal jurisdiction. By allowing a suspect to live and study in Lithuania without being subject to any judicial scrutiny, the state is failing to fulfill its obligations under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute.”
Israel has consistently rejected allegations that it committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the IDF operates in accordance with international law and seeks to minimize harm to civilians.
Israel has also maintained that Hamas operates within the civilian population of Gaza and uses civilians as human shields.