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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elsewhere who wrote (105272)	7/14/2003 9:54:54 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

We knew the French had exempted themselves from the ICC. Now even Belgium have finally wised up to how ridiculous their "War Crime" law was. Belgium repeals controversial war crimes law Sat Jul 12, 6:40 PM ET BRUSSELS (AFP) - The Belgian government decided to repeal a controversial war crimes law that has been used in attempts to indict leaders around the world for crimes against humanity, the Belga news agency reported The "universal competence" law will be withdrawn and replaced with a new text that has considerably less scope and is more in line with other western countries, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told a press conference. The 1993 law dragged Belgium into a diplomatic minefield as cases were brought against US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), among others, accusing them of war crimes over the war in Iraq The existing law gives Belgian courts the right to judge anyone accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, regardless of the suspect's country of origin or where the crime took place. Senior US officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, had warned that the law could threaten Belgium's standing as home to international institutions including the European Union (news - web sites) and NATO (news - web sites). A final version of the new text will be drawn up in a week's time after taking advice from the relevant state bodies, Belga said. The law could then be voted on by lawmakers before parliament breaks for summer recess in early August. The new law will be drastically reduced in scope. Immunity will be accorded to foreign leaders and a direct link with Belgium must exist before victims can file a legal suit. "The legislation will be comparable to that in other western countries," Verhofstadt said in a press conference, commenting on his first decision after being sworn in for a second mandate as Belgium's prime minister. In cases where a victim is claiming damages in a criminal case, the suit can only be filed if either the defendants' primary residence is located in Belgium or they hold Belgian nationality. A victim not seeking damages can still however ask a federal judge to bring a case if the victim is Belgian or has lived in the country for at least three years at the time of the alleged crime. Before taking action, the federal judge must "take into consideration multilateral treaties, such as those in the European Union or the North Atlantic," Verhofstadt said as quoted by Belga. story.news.yahoo.com