Posted on 09/08/2001 4:36:03 PM PDT by veronica
Belgium suspends case against Sharon while legality checked
By Nitzan Horowitz
A controversial investigation in Belgium of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for crimes against humanity was suspended on Friday, until an appeals court rules on its legality.
The case involving Sharon's alleged role in a 1982 massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut has soured relations between Brussels and Jerusalem and discouraged the Israeli leader from visiting European Union headquarters in the Belgian capital.
Belgian lawyer Michel Hirsch, representing Israel, said that the examining magistrate in the case, Patrick Collignon, had suspended his investigation and asked an appeals court to decide whether the matter falls within his jurisdiction.
Brussels public prosecutor Benoit Dejemeppe told Belga news agency that the court would study the admissibility of the case and the competence of a Belgian examining magistrate to investigate it. Hearings will take place in the coming weeks but a ruling is expected to take several months.
Collignon opened an investigation against Sharon in July after finding merit in two complaints filed by relatives of Palestinians killed by Lebanese Phalangist militiamen who entered the camps while they were surrounded by the Israeli army.
The complaint was filed by survivors of the massacre under a controversial 1993 Belgian law that allows its courts to prosecute foreigners for human rights abuses committed abroad.
Hirsch has argued that the investigation breached Israel's judicial sovereignty because the case had already been decided in 1983 when the Kahan Public Commission of Inquiry found Sharon, then defense minister, indirectly responsible for the killing of hundreds of Palestinians.
A senior Israeli source expressed satisfaction but also surprise at the speed with which the Belgian jurors decided on the suspension. He assessed that this reflects a willingness by the Belgians to be cooperative on the issue, which Israel has claimed was purely political.
A lawyer for the Palestinian plaintiffs, Michael Verhaeghe, told Reuters that he welcomed the decision to seek confirmation of the magistrate's authority before proceeding with the investigation, provided it did not cause undue delay.
"We remain unimpressed with the arguments advanced by the State of Israel. There is no immunity for crimes against humanity," Verhaeghe said.
The decision on the case against the Israeli prime minister may spell set a precedent for a number of other cases pending against several current and former world leaders, including Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The controversial Belgian law has already resulted in diplomatic tensions on several fronts, and Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel has recommended amending the law. His call was seconded a number of days ago when the Belgian courts reopenned following the summer recess, and the State Prosecutor Alain Winants called on the Belgian legislature to "restrain the law" and adjust it to international law.Y
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