The new law passed by a vote of 39 to 4 with 20 abstentions. It had cleared the lower house of parliament July 29, and will take effect after it is signed by King Albert II, which is expected to be a formality. Brussels proposed the change after coming under heavy pressure from Washington and London to repeal the previous legislation.
As they expand use of their military might around the world, the U.S. rulers, in particular, have been pressing for immunity from prosecution for members of their military and government officials by other countries or institutions like the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The charges against former U.S. president Bush were brought on behalf of Iraqis who lost family members after U.S. pilots bombed a shelter killing 403 people, including 52 children and 261 women, in the 1991 war against Iraq. Charges against the current U.S. president and British prime minister stem from this year’s imperialist assault on Iraq.
Brussels received sharp warnings from Washington, Paris, and Berlin demanding repeal of the law. U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld threatened to block further funding for a new NATO headquarters in Belgium.
This is the second time the law has been altered. Earlier this year Brussels rushed through changes that permitted it to refer charges to the government of the country of origin of the accused, providing it had a “fair and democratic legal system,” according to a report by the BBC. Using that provision, the cases against U.S. and British officials have essentially been dropped, along with that against Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, charged with organizing massacres at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.
The attorney who brought the charges against Franks has appealed the decision. The new bill empowers a senior justice to decide which cases to prosecute with the decision not subject to appeal. Some 29 cases against former and present heads of states—among them Cuban president Fidel Castro and Palestinian Authority president Yasir Arafat—remain in effect.
The new legislation grants immunity to all foreign heads of state, requires a direct link of the offenses to Belgium, and stipulates that the accusers be Belgian citizens or residents of the country for at least three years prior to the commission of the crime.
In response to Washington’s demands, members of parliament stumbled over each other to show proper contriteness. “We are a small country, we cannot act as an international judge,” said Liberal Democrat Stef Goris. “We have made our country a joke,” added Christian Democrat Pieter De Crem. “Problematic,” said Socialist Party member and deputy head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Dirk Van der Maelen, referring to the law.
The previous law allowed for war crimes accusations to be filed in Belgian courts against anyone regardless of where the alleged offenses took place or the nationality of those involved in committing them. It has only been used successfully against four Rwandans living in Belgium who were convicted in 2001 of “genocide,” according to the International Herald Tribune. They were given sentences of 12 to 20 years for alleged crimes committed during the Rwandan civil war in the mid-1990s.
The United Nations Security Council has also approved a resolution submitted by Washington that extends for another year an exemption from prosecution to citizens of countries that have not ratified the founding statutes of the International Criminal Court. Disapproving of the extension, three of the 15 Council members—France, Germany and Syria—abstained. Britain’s representative to the Council, Jeremy Greenstock, supported the extension but added, “Whilst we understand the U.S. concerns…we do not share them.”
Washington is also “negotiating” bilateral agreements prohibiting other countries from handing over U.S. citizens for prosecution by the ICC. The White House has suspended military aid to the governments that have turned down the arrangement.
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