In the latest setback for the Belgian law of universal jurisdiction, an appeals court in the country has ruled that it cannot investigate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes, because he is not present in Belgium.

The case against Sharon was brought by survivors of the 1982 massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Lebanon, carried out by Lebanese Christian militias allied to Israel. Israeli troops were positioned outside the camps when the killings took place, and Sharon, who was Defense Minister at the time, was accused of responsibility for the slaughter.

Under a law passed in 1993, Belgian courts can try people for war crimes committed anywhere in the world. However, the Belgian appeals court ruled on June 26 that the law was "not applicable" in Sharon’s case because the accused was not on Belgian territory.

"The complaint against Sharon…is not admissible because of the principle of Belgian law that crimes committed in other countries cannot be prosecuted in Belgium unless the author or presumed author has been found in Belgium," a spokesman for the court said.

Michael Verhaeghe, one of the lawyers for the Palestinians who had brought the case, warned that the decision could have severe consequences for future attempts to use the Belgian law to pursue war crimes suspects. "It completely undermines the scope of universal jurisdiction," he said. "We are appealing to the Supreme Court. The fight goes on, that's clear."

Last February a case in Belgian courts against the former Congolese foreign minister was also derailed, after the International Court of Justice ruled that the minister enjoyed diplomatic immunity from prosecution in the courts of other countries.

In Sharon’s case, the Belgian appeals court did not comment on the question of diplomatic immunity.

Another lawyer for the Palestinians who brought the case against Sharon, Chibli Mallat, described the ruling as a "temporary setback". He said it was "a bad and unfair decision based on a narrow procedural basis that violates the text and spirit of the Belgian law."

However the Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres welcomed the decision. "One nation cannot judge another nation," he said. "A nation that doesn’t, fortunately, have to fight terror and war will hardly understand a nation that has to do it."

In the aftermath of the Sabra and Chatila killings, Israel launched a commission of enquiry into the incident. The commission found Sharon "indirectly responsible" and he was forced to resign as Defense Minister in 1983. Sharon’s political rehabilitation was completed last year, when he was defeated Ehud Barak in national elections for prime minister.

Under the Belgian law, prosecutions have also been launched against the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuban President Fidel Castro, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. There have been suggestions that the Belgian government has been embarrassed by the consequences of the law, and it has promised to make it harder for international claims to be launched in the country.

Related chapters from Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know

Arab-Israeli War
Command Responsibility
Jurisdiction, Universal

Related Links

Israel/Belgium: Dismay at Sharon Case Decision
Amnesty International, June 26, 2002

Judges Decide Belgian War Crimes Law Cannot Be Used to Try Sharon
Ian Black
The Guardian, June 27, 2002

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