BRUSSELS, June 24 (Reuters) - A Brussels appeals court is
due to rule on Wednesday whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon can be prosecuted in Belgium over his alleged role in the
killings of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon two decades ago.
The hearing is the latest round in a year-long saga over
whether Sharon can be tried for crimes against humanity under a
controversial Belgian law giving the country's courts the right
to prosecute foreigners for serious human rights violations.
Two previous rulings have already chipped away at the
validity of the Belgian law, but whichever way the decision goes
this week, it is unlikely to be the end of the story.
Sharon was his country's defence minister in 1982 when an
Israeli-backed Lebanese militia slaughtered hundreds of refugees
at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut, then occupied by
Israel. The following year, Israel's Kahan Commission found him
indirectly responsible for the deaths.
The lawsuit against Sharon in Belgium was filed in June last
year by a group of 28 Palestinian and Lebanese camp survivors.
The legal debate centres on two issues: whether government
officials are covered by diplomatic immunity and whether a link
needs to be established between the accused and Belgium.
The case is being keenly followed by lawyers and diplomats.
A ruling in favour of Sharon is likely to spur Belgian
legislators to modify the law, which has caused embarrassment
for the government and strained its ties with Israel.
In February, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The
Hague dealt a blow to Belgian claims of universal jurisdiction
by upholding the immunity of former Congolese foreign minister,
Yerodia Aboulaye Ndombasi, from prosecution in Belgium.
The decision resulted in an order to cancel Belgium's
international arrest warrant against him, issued in 2000, for
crimes against humanity.
At the time, the Belgian foreign ministry's legal adviser,
Jan Devadder, said he thought the ICJ ruling would force Belgium
to drop the case against Sharon.
PRECEDENT AUGURS WELL FOR SHARON In another precedent-setting ruling two months later, the Brussels appeals court threw out a case against Yerodia, who was accused of inciting racial hatred, on the grounds that he had not been found in Belgium. "We can suppose they will do they same thing (in Sharon's case)," the Israeli leader's lawyer Adrien Masset said. The appeals decision in the Sharon case has already been postponed once to allow lawyers for both sides to present their interpretations of the earlier rulings. The plaintiffs' lawyers have argued that diplomatic immunity should not be recognised for genocide charges. They say Sharon's status as a head of government should not prevent a criminal investigation, even if no arrest warrant were issued while he remained in office. "The best possible outcome is that a) immunity is no obstacle against inquiry and b) that no territorial link is necessary in order to start an inquiry," said Michael Verhaeghe, one of three lawyers representing the Palestinians. Although deemed admissible by an investigating magistrate, a criminal inquiry into Sharon's alleged crimes was halted last September over doubts about Belgium's legal competence. Israeli representatives have slammed the Belgian lawsuit, calling it a political move to undermine Sharon. Whatever the ruling, it is expected to be appealed in Belgium's Supreme Court.
24 JUN 2002 10:44:11 Belgian court to rule on warcrime trial for Sharon
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