 |
| The
Brussels court of appeal will determine whether the case against
Sharon can be pursued
|
BRUSSELS,
May 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Belgian judicial panel on
Wednesday, May 15, will take another look at a case lodged by 23
Palestinians against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over his role
in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres.
By
ruling on the admissibility of the case, the indictment chamber of the
Brussels court of appeal will in effect be determining whether or not
investigating magistrates can pursue the case against Sharon, who was
Israel's defense minister at the time of the massacres in Lebanon.
But
judicial officials said it was unlikely that the chamber would take a
decision before the middle of next month.
The
panel was supposed to decide last March on the admissibility of the
case, which is built on a 1993 "law of universal competence"
that empowers Belgian courts to try human-rights cases regardless of
where the alleged outrages took place.
But
lawyers for the Palestinians asked for a review in the wake of an
International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision in February 2002 that
involved a former Congolese minister.
The
ICJ, based in The Hague, ruled that a Belgian arrest warrant for the
minister, Abdulaye Yerodia, was invalid because he enjoyed immunity
from prosecution for his time in office.
Yerodia
was targeted in a case alleging that he incited racial hatred in 1998
against ethnic Tutsis.
No
arrest warrant has been issued for Sharon, but the possibility exists
if the case is declared admissible.
Sharon's
lawyers contend that Belgian courts lack competence in the case, filed
in June last year by Palestinian survivors or relatives of those
killed in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp massacres.
Michele
Hirsch, Sharon's lawyer in Belgium, added that the ICJ decision in the
Yerodia case adds weight to the argument that the prime minister
cannot be prosecuted in Belgium.
Up
to 1,500 Palestinian refugees died in the two camps, near Beirut, at
the hands of Israeli-allied Lebanese Christian militiamen after Israel
invaded Lebanon in 1982.
Sharon
was forced to resign his portfolio after an Israeli inquiry found he
was "indirectly responsible" for the massacres. He was
elected prime minister last year.
Human
rights groups on Tuesday, May 14, urged Belgian courts not to scrub
the case. "The law over universal competence faces a key
test, and it is possible that the Belgium courts will let it slip
away. We must save this law," said Eric Gillet of the
International Federation of Human Rights.
