 |
| |
|
|
Dry
|
 |
Brussels
Sep 2000
time: 06:20
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by notyoueither
The entire concept of the Belgian court setting itself up to judge actions anywhere in the world was abhorrent to my thinking of justice and sovereignty. What next, they would rule on the constitution of Canada? |
Well, this concept of declaring Belgian court competent was not a decision of the judges. Belgium works like a democracy, it is the government that proposes the law, parliament votes it and, in case of justice, the judges may only decide if the law apply to the specific case or not.
The 'universal competence' of belgian tribunals was aimed to allow citizens of dictatorship, where there is no possiblility of legal proceedings, to have one.
In all democracies, a citizen may sue any other, including the leaders (except in case of immunity). I, as belgian, may even sue a frenchman, before a french court. This is not the case in dictatorships. The goal of this law was to allow such summoning for all citizens of the world.
Then came the Sharon case. There was a great debat in Belgium, because, on one side, Israel was a democracy and the possibilty of legal proceedings exists, but on the other side, some argued that the Pals where not really able to complaint: Sharon was Israelian and a trial before an Israelian tribunal could be suspected of unfairness...
The question remained: Sharon was leader of a democratic state, with the possibility to sue, but the litigants were Pals... do they really have that possibility?
Anyhow, some in Belgium agree that this law was badly written, decided and voted. Among them even judges and lawyers. It is too blur and allow too many weird cases.
What about the citizens of a country at war with another one? If tomorrow there is a war between India and Pakistan, could some pakistani villagers sue indian officers for having bomb their villages? They would have no chance to do that before Indian tribunals, so, in Belgium?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Lemmy
|
 |
Bubblewrap
Dec 2000
time: 06:20
|
|
quote:
Tommorrow is June 26th, the date the Belgian court will decide whether to try Ariel Sharon for crimes against humanity for permitting Christian troops into the Lebanese Palestinian camps in 1982 to look for terrorists, but knowing there was a risk of a massacre, which then took place. Perhaps a 1000 or more died.
However, we here narry a peep from the Belgian court concerning the Dutch officers who handed over the men, women and children of Sebrenicia to Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic in 1995 knowing there was a risk of a massacre, which then took place. More than 8000 died.
The massacre permitted by the Dutch was orders of magnitude worse than that committed in Lebanon.
But, do we here demands in Belgium and Holland or the rest of of the EU for even-handed justice. NO!
Hyprocrites!
|
*sigh* Get your friggin facts straight Ned!!   
The dutch government resigned because of what happened in Srebenica, and the events are still being indepently investigated.
Now what happened to Sharon?
did he resign, no, they give him a promotion to premier? 
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Arrian
|
 |
Kneel before Grog!
Jul 2001
time: 00:20
|
|
By the way..
quote:
Belgian Court Dismisses Sharon War Crimes Suit
Wed Jun 26, 6:55 AM ET
By Katie Nguyen
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Brussels appeals court threw out a lawsuit against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ( news - web sites) on Wednesday, ruling he was immune from investigation in Belgium over his alleged role in a 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees.
"What the court decided is that the complaint against Sharon ... is not admissible because of the principle of Belgian law that crimes committed in other countries cannot be prosecuted in Belgium unless the author or presumed author has been found in Belgium," a court spokesman said.
The ruling deals a major blow to Belgium's law giving the country's courts the right to try foreigners for serious human rights abuses wherever they are committed.
It was under this controversial law that a group of Palestinian and Lebanese filed the complaint last year, accusing Sharon of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Michael Verhaeghe, one of the lawyers for the group of Palestinians, told reporters that his clients would appeal to the country's Supreme Court of Appeal.
"We are not satisfied with this," he said. "It completely undermines the scope of universal jurisdiction. We are appealing to the Supreme Court. The fight goes on, that's clear."
In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees read the ruling as a sign that Europe had joined the United States in backing Israel in its conflict with Palestinians, and that they could expect no justice in its courts.
"There were already steps to head off the court proceedings, but they let them go on to display a sort of fraudulent democracy," said Hussein al-Jamal, a 42-year-old resident of the Rashidiyeh camp in south Lebanon.
"MORE LAW THAN POLITICS"
But there was jubilation among Sharon's backers when, after a nail-biting delay of nearly two hours, photocopies of the 22-page ruling were distributed from a dusty room on the corner of Brussels' Palais de Justice.
"It's a lawsuit that started with more politics than law and it is lucky that the outcome is more law than politics," Daniel Shek, director of European Affairs at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told reporters at the court. "It's what we considered a logical outcome, we trusted the system and the system did not let us down."
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told reporters: "I think they shouldn't even have tried to (bring the case to court). One nation cannot judge another nation. A nation that doesn't, fortunately, have to fight terror and war will hardly understand a nation that has to do it."
Sharon was defense minister in 1982 when an Israeli-backed Lebanese militia killed hundreds of refugees at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut, then occupied by Israel. The following year, an Israeli commission found him indirectly responsible.
A criminal investigation was suspended last September pending a ruling on Belgium's jurisdiction.
Two previous rulings had already chipped away at the validity of the law, which has caused embarrassment for the Belgian government and strained its ties with Israel.
In February, the International Court of Justice at the Hague ( news - web sites) snubbed Belgian claims of universal jurisdiction by upholding the immunity of former Congolese Foreign Minister Yerodia Aboulaye Ndombasi from prosecution in Belgium.
The decision resulted in an order to cancel Belgium's international arrest warrant against him, issued in 2000, for crimes against humanity.
In an another precedent-setting ruling two months later, the Brussels appeals court threw out a case against Yerodia, who was accused of inciting racial hatred, on the grounds that he had not been found in Belgium.
CATASTROPHE SCENARIO
It was on this ground of links between the accused and Belgium -- and not diplomatic immunity -- that the investigation into Sharon was halted by the appeals court Wednesday.
"This decision is a great disappointment not only to the victims of the massacres of Sabra and Shatila but to atrocity victims everywhere who have placed their hopes for justice in the Belgian courts," said Reed Brody, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch.
Montserrat Carreras of rights group Amnesty International, pointing out that if the case had been thrown out on immunity grounds it could have been taken up again when Sharon left office, said Wednesday's ruling was "the catastrophe scenario."
Lawyer Verhaeghe said his clients' case in the Supreme Court of Appeal would now hang on whether it could be proved that Sharon was in Belgium in 1987. Two liberal Belgian senators said they would introduce a bill in the senate for a change in the law to ensure that people who are not in Belgium can be prosecuted.
"The bill is ready. It is just a matter of days," senator Vincent Van Quickenborne, a Flemish liberal, said. |
Well then.
-Arrian
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:20.
Apolyton Time is 00:20. |
top of page
|
| archivepost |
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
26-06-2002 16:44
|