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Belgian Senate Okays Law Interpretation Allowing Trial of Sharon

BRUSSELS, January 31 (IO News Agencies) - Reviving hopes of 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre victims that Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon could be prosecuted for war crimes, the Belgian Senate sponsored Friday, January 31, a new interpretation of the "universal competence" law which was used as a basis for lawsuits in Belgium against foreign leaders.

The senators endorsed the new interpretation by 34 votes whereas six voted against and six others abstained, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The new interpretation has now to be brought before the House of Representatives for ratification.

The unique "universal competence" law, adopted in 1993, enables Belgian courts to examine cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide regardless of where the outrages were perpetrated.

The new interpretation says that lawsuits under the law can proceed even if the person being prosecuted is not on Belgian soil.

An "interpretation" of the law -- as opposed to a modification -- would allow already-launched legal suits to be reopened.

If the law is modified, with government backing, it would only cover acts committed after its adoption and would not provide a basis for legal suits brought in the past.

The Senate vote came amidst heavy pressure from Israel, which decided to recall its ambassador to Belgium if the proposal was adopted, the newspaper Le Soir reported on Thursday, January 30.

But a lawyer representing victims of the 1982 massacre welcomed the Belgian legal move.

"This is an important victory for all human rights groups and the victims of crimes against humanity," Chebli Mallat said.

Mallat, who represents parents of people killed in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, hoped that Belgian justice would take "its normal course."

The change comes as a reaction to a court ruling last year, which effectively shelved lawsuits brought under the law against some 30 foreign leaders or ex-leaders, including Sharon.

In June 2002, a Brussels appeal court ruled that "for cases based on universal competence ... it is necessary that the alleged perpetrators be in the territory of the kingdom (of Belgium)."

The ruling halted one of the most high-profile suits brought under the law -- one filed by 23 survivors of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre against Sharon, the then Israeli defence minister.

The decision drew harsh criticism from human rights watch-dogs which considered the ruling a great disappointment not only to the victims of the massacre but to atrocity victims everywhere who placed high hopes for justice in the Belgian court.

The Sabra and Shatila massacre, during which between 800 and 2,000 Palestinian refugees were slaughtered, was carried out by the Israeli proxy South Lebanon Army (SLA) during Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

An Israeli tribunal in 1983 found Sharon to be indirectly but personally responsible for the carnage. As a result, Sharon was forced to resign from his post as defence minister.

Under the universal competence law, four Rwandans were found guilty in 2001 of participating in the 1994 genocide in their homeland, which left an estimated one million people dead.

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