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| Europe | |
| Belgium Scraps War Crimes Law Which Angered U.S. | |
| 2003-07-13 | |
So I guess we can totally ignore the Belgians again...
Won’t see me doing the perp walk because of this idiot law. The 1993 law gave Belgian courts the power to try war crimes cases no matter where they were committed. In future, the right to launch cases would be restricted to Belgians or people resident in the country. All cases apart from those involving Belgians would be dropped, he said. Maybe they can do one for the other planets. How forward thinking and visionary! The norms of international immunity would also be respected. Any cases that were launched would take into account Belgium’s agreements with NATO allies and other European Union members. Well isn’t that big of them... The law got Belgium into all kinds of trouble. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said Washington would be reluctant to send U.S. officials to Brussels for meetings at NATO headquarters and that it was opposed to any further spending on a new alliance headquarters. Rummy knows how to deal with shakedown artists. Hit them in the head, or the wallet. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who angered Washington with his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq, was also caught by the law as he was accused by an opposition party of illegally authorizing arms shipments to strife-torn Nepal. Michel, who has stayed in the new government, denied that it was U.S. pressure which had provoked the government’s move. "This was abused by some people who wanted to damage other people, leaders and partners. Those who forced us to change the law are those who abused the law," he told VRT television. Like the ones who came after you? How dare they! Don’t they know who you are? Belgium had already taken steps to soften the law, such as allowing cases be forwarded to a defendant’s country if the country was democratic and could handle the suit properly. Who determines that? Such was the fate of the cases launched against Bush and Blair over the war in Iraq. But U.S. officials had said it was better if such suits never came up in the first place. The case against Sharon, filed by survivors of a 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by Lebanese Christian militias, was suspended as the court decided he had immunity as a leader who was still in office. Bet that broke their balls. Verhofstadt’s move is aimed at definitively narrowing the scope for war crimes cases with its strict rules on the need for a Belgian or someone resident in the country to file a case. He mentioned three suits that would proceed, all involving Belgians. These were in Guatemala, Chad and Rwanda. It was Belgium’s prosecution of two Rwandan nuns on genocide charges in 2001 as the first application of the law which prompted a flood of other suits. Genocidal nuns? I knew they were strict but what pissed them off enough to commit genocide? Chewing gum in class? | |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #7 Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who angered Washington with his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq, was also caught by the law as he was accused by an opposition party of illegally authorizing arms shipments to strife-torn Nepal. Michel, who has stayed in the new government, denied that it was U.S. pressure which had provoked the government’s move. "This was abused by some people who wanted to damage other people, leaders and partners. Those who forced us to change the law are those who abused the law," he told VRT television. The moment it got personal, the issue went to the front burner... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-7-14 8:19:55 AM |
#6 Looks like there is less here than first appears:"...the right to launch cases would be restricted to Belgians or people resident in the country."All this does is limit who can file charges. I'm sure that Belgium's citizenry includes a sufficient body of barking moonbats that it would be easy for foreign activists to find some Belgian citizen who would be willing to charge anybody with anything. If that's not enough, the "people resident in Belgium" category is a loophole big enough to sail an aircraft carrier through. "The norms of international immunity would also be respected."The way Spain does? "Any cases that were launched would take into account Belgium?s agreements with NATO allies..."Better read the fine print carefully. |
| Posted by: Old Grouch 2003-7-13 2:44:05 PM |
| #5 Perhaps I'm paranoid but a suit about arms shipments to Nepal?! Belgium does make the ubiquitous FN rifle. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-7-13 2:26:19 PM |
| #4 I wonder if the suit against Michel was secretly supported by the Belgian Government in order to give them an excuse to ditch the law and back away from the brewing conflict with the U.S. without looking too much like they were simply caving to U.S. pressure. Perhaps I'm paranoid but a suit about arms shipments to Nepal?! |
| Posted by: Tokyo Taro 2003-7-13 7:28:44 AM |
| #3 "This was abused by some people who wanted to damage other people, leaders and partners." And you couldn't see this coming, right? |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-7-13 7:11:09 AM |
| #2 "In future, the right to launch cases would be restricted to Belgians or people resident in the country. All cases apart from those involving Belgians would be dropped" So, Belgium can no longer charge Tommy Franks, Tony Blair or George Bush. What effect does this have on the case against the BELGIAN Foreign minister? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-7-13 5:45:28 AM |
| #1 "This was abused by some people who wanted to damage other people, leaders and partners. Those who forced us to change the law are those who abused the law," he told VRT television. Sounds suspiciously like Mr. Michel still doesn't get it. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-7-13 4:52:29 AM |