I'll get back to your posts tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll just say that Belgium's "universal jurisdiction" is merely neocolonialism wrapped up in the clothes of International Law... When dictator Mobutu was escaping his crumbling regime in 1997 --and travelled to Switzerland, Southern France,...-- nobody called for his immediate arrest. Likewise, most of France/Belgium's allies in Central Africa will never get pestered by European lawsuits. Congo-Brazzaville's Sassou Nguesso, C.A.R.'s Patassé, etc. have nothing to fear from their European sponsors.
Now, it'd be funny to see some Third World country like, say, South Africa, following suit and allowing plaintiffs to file "human rights" lawsuits against Western wrongdoers... Algerians could go to Johannesburg to lodge a complain against French generals/officers who tortured them in the 1950s; Spaniards vs. Franco thugs; Congolese vs Belgian mercenaries; Chinese prisoners vs Japanese military; etc... ALL IN JOHANNESBURG! LOL!
Gus. |
