Belgium amends law for Bush to avoid lawsuit

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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I am not sure if this has been discussed here, so I’ll post it.

Source: Dawn

**Belgium amends law for Bush to avoid lawsuit **

BRUSSELS, March 26: The Belgian parliament on Tuesday amended a controversial law to prevent US President George W. Bush being prosecuted for war crimes over the conflict in Iraq.

The law allows Belgian courts to try suspects for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, regardless of where the alleged acts took place or the nationality of the accused.

Under the amendment - which the Belgian Senate must approve before it takes effect - a federal prosecutor will decide in certain cases whether to accept a suit filed under the so-called “universal competence” law.

This was one of the “filters” that lawmakers inserted into the law to prevent plaintiffs bringing “harebrained” lawsuits.

Critics of the law, including the United States, have warned Belgium that its role as host to international institutions like NATO and the European Union, would be threatened if a war crimes suit were filed against Bush.

“It’s a serious problem,” said US Secretary of State Colin Powell, after he was named last week in a lawsuit for alleged crimes during the 1991 Gulf war along with former US president George Bush and current Vice President Dick Cheney.

“For a place that is an international center they should be a little bit concerned about this,” Powell said.

The lawsuit against him was filed by seven Iraqi families over the bombing of a civilian shelter in Baghdad that killed 403 people on the night of February 12-13, 1991.

Powell served as the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Cheney as defence secretary during the 1991 Gulf war.

Some 30 current or former political leaders are facing action under the Belgian law, including Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

“I expect there to be, any day, a suit against President (George W.) Bush in Belgium,” Herman De Croo, speaker of Belgium’s lower house of parliament, said earlier Tuesday.

Throughout the day, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt had hosted intense negotiations among political leaders from his ruling “rainbow” coalition to discuss changes to the law.

Under the amendments passed, the prosecutor will decide if a lawsuit is valid if the alleged crime did not happen in Belgium; if the alleged perpetrator is not Belgian or is not on Belgian territory; and if the victims are not Belgian or have not resided in Belgium for at least three years.

If one of these conditions applies, the lawsuit goes ahead automatically.

If none of the conditions apply, the Belgian justice minister can pass on the case to the country of the accused.

The amendments will affect only cases filed after July 1, 2002 - like the one against Bush senior - and only those where the country of the accused has war crimes legislation.

Fears that a war crimes lawsuit over the Iraqi conflict could be brought against the current US president have further strained relations between the United States and Belgium, which has been a fierce critic of the war on Iraq.

According to parliamentary sources, the parties in the ruling coalition were divided over how to amend the law.

Verhofstadt’s Liberals, backed by Flemish-speaking Socialists, had proposed a “diplomatic filter” allowing the government to pass on any cases to the country where the alleged crimes took place, providing it is democratic.

Francophone Socialists and Greens feared that the law would be rendered toothless if the amendments were too radical.-AFP

Whyis US scared of facing war crimes lawsuits? US has opposed “ICJ” and now threatening Belgian. :disgust:

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Kaash aisa ho jaye… doubtful as it is.

Franks may face war crimes charge, Ian Black
The Guardian, 30 April 2003

Belgium is coming under pressure from the US to block a potentially explosive war crimes case against General Tommy Franks, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

Jan Fermon, a Brussels lawyer, confirmed yesterday that 19 Iraqi plaintiffs were seeking to bring charges that would name the general and other US soldiers who had allegedly committed crimes.

Mr Fermon claimed there were 17 violations of Belgium’s controversial 1993 war crimes law, which allowed universal jurisdiction until it was amended early this month.

The legal move could prove embarrassing for the government of Guy Verhofstadt, who opposed the war in Iraq along with France and Germany, and is now seeking to mend fences with the US.

Recent high-profile cases based on the law against Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the former US president George Bush drew heavy criticism, although a Belgian court appeared to kill off the case against Mr Sharon last year when it declared that he could not be tried because he was not physically present in Belgium.

But this attempt may be more about publicity than justice. Changes to the law allows Belgium to refer foreigners facing war crimes charges to their own governments if these are democracies.

The new version also allows the judiciary to reject complaints filed by plaintiffs who have lived in Belgium for less than three years or those in which the victim or the alleged perpetrator was not a Belgian.

Complaints will be investigated only if the public prosecutor’s office decides Belgium is the right place to deal with the matter. Officials say that will be the exception not the rule.

But a US state department spokesman said: “We believe the Belgian government needs to be diligent in taking steps to prevent abuse of the legal system for political ends.”

Mr Fermon claimed to be “optimistic” that his claim would be accepted under the new rules. “We have a very specific case, with specific evidence,” he said. “I do not see how they can reject it.”

Alleged crimes include the failure of US troops to prevent the looting of hospitals in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein, as well as a shooting incident on a Red Crescent ambulance.

Another claim involves the alleged US bombing of a crowded market in Baghdad, which Iraqi officials claimed killed more than 60 people.

Evidence including video footage and interviews was gathered by two Belgian doctors who were in Baghdad during the war.

Some 30 genocide cases have been lodged in Belgium including ones against Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro.

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Old news and a violation of International law. Belgium is not the ICC. They should have never enacted the law in the first place. It was sheer stupidity. Ideal reasoning and should be appluaded for the thought but seriously what gives them the right to charge other leaders/important figures as criminals?