Free Republic

The Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel has fiercely criticized the case brought against the commander of US forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks. The lawsuit was filed by the Belgian lawyer Jan Fermon on behalf of nineteen Iraqis. They say General Franks' troops are guilty of at least twenty separate instances of war crimes. The Belgian minister says the Iraqis are misusing Belgium's universal competence law, which makes it possible to bring charges of human rights violations in Belgium, regardless of where the alleged crimes took place. A federal prosecutor will decide whether or not the case is referred to...

Feb. 26, 2003 Belgium's Michel hits back at Israeli critics of war crimes law By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BRUSSELS, Belgium - Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel hit back Wednesday at Israeli critics of Belgium's contentious war crimes law, saying his government was not behind efforts to bring Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon to trial. In a letter published in Belgian and Israeli newspapers, Michel said Belgium's 1993 law was the "expression of the political will to put an ethical dimension into our foreign policy." Michel criticized the Israeli government, which recalled its ambassador two weeks ago after Belgium's Supreme Court ruled...