Justice for the victims of the US Army :Please
get a signature urgently !
18 Iraqis and 2 Jordanians just introduced a case in Brussels against general
Franks, head of the US Army in Iraq. Based on the law of “universal jurisdiction”,
characteristic of the Belgian law concerning genocide and war crimes.
This action provoked great enthusiasm among the international public opinion.
Hundreds of messages are sent to Stop USA Brussels, coordinator of the
case.
But next week, immediately after the local elections, the Belgian government is
preparing to send the case to... Washington, pretending that US Justice would be
equitable ! Bush would be the judge of Bush! This would mean assassinate the
victims twice.
This only chance to save this case is to organize immediately a strong
international pressure. So we ask to each of you to mobilize and get urgently
one big personality signing this Appeal below : artists, intellectuals,
sportsmen, academicians, politicians, humanitarians, every sort of well known
personalities.
Defending Justice against the powerful = also defend the next countries
threatened by Bush.
Concretely, please send as soon as possible the signature (s) of the personality
(ies) that you can get to :
Stop USA International Secretariat info@stopusa.be
Full text of the accusation on: http://stopusa.be
The complaint is directed against soldiers —
who are not identified at this stage — who have committed war crimes. It
mentions General Tommy Franks in particular for ordering war crimes and for not
preventing others from committing them or for providing protection to the
perpetrators.
The plaintiffs have been seriously injured or have
lost relatives as the result of:
* the use of
cluster bombs
* attacks on
the civilian population including journalists
* acts of
aggression against health services and other Iraqi infrastructure
* looting
protected by or under orders from the U.S. army.
Millions of demonstrators throughout the world have
voiced their opposition to the war on Iraq. Opinion polls showed that everywhere,
between 70 and 80% of the population condemned this war of aggression.
In defiance of the people's will, the Bush
administration violated international law by attacking Iraq without the
permission of the Security Council and refusing to respect the ban on the use of
force included in the UN Charter. In the field, U.S. troops also committed many
war crimes, as attested by many sources.
The complaint was filed in Brussels on the basis of
the Belgian law on "universal jurisdiction" as amended on May 7, 2003. The law,
as amended, gives the Belgian government the option of filing a case before the
International Criminal Court (ICC) or forwarding it to the country of origin of
the accused.
The United States, however, has not ratified the
Statutes of the ICC, thus rendering a transfer to this court impossible. As for
referring the case to the courts of the country of origin, the law demands that
the latter afford guarantees of impartiality. That is not the case with American
law courts for the moment for a number of reasons:
1. As soon as the possibility of filing charges was
announced, the spokesperson of the State Department demanded the intervention of
the Belgian government to prevent the judiciary from investigating the case.
2. The attitude of the Bush administration clearly
shows there is no guarantee that the United States executive would not exercise
the same type of pressure on the courts of the country. It should be recalled
that this same administration refuses the prisoners detained in Guantanamo any
kind of legal status, has set up special secret courts to try people accused of
" terrorism " and detains hundreds of foreigners for unlimited periods and
without due process. It has this shown its intention to intervene in judicial
procedure and its total lack of respect for the most basic rights of the defens
e.
3. Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York has
introduced a bill to forbid all collaboration with any state trying to exercise
universal jurisdiction, and in particular with Belgium.
The victims' testimonies have been documented by
doctor Colette Moulaert and doctor Geert Van Moorter, who were on a humanitarian
mission for the NGO Medical Aid for the Third World and stayed in Baghdad
throughout the offensive. The Coordination STOP USA, which was active against
the war in Belgium, will support the plaintiffs and will provide information on
the case worldwide.
The undersigned consider:
The undersigned call on the Belgian government not to give in to the
diplomatic pressure of the U.S. and not to hinder the judicial process by
forwarding the case to the U.S.
In the name of my organisation:
Organisation:
Please send your signature only to info@stopusa.be
This appeal is coordinated by STOP USA International
53 Chaussée de Haecht, 1210 Brussels. info@stopusa.be
Full text of the accusation on: http://stopusa.be