Sharon can be prosecuted for warcrimes

A leading legal expert, Belgian solicitor Michael Vertraeten affirmed that the time will come, "maybe sooner than people think" to bring Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon to justice for the crimes committed in 1982 at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut.

Vertraeten, who participated in the case brought against Sharon in Belgium earlier this year, told Gulf News that he traced the historic developments in the Belgian law regarding crimes against humanity to June 1993 when his country introduced a new law against war crimes.

"That law applied to serious war crimes only. But in February 1999, the law was changed and its application was extended to all crimes against humanity and genocide, regardless of the place or the time of the crimes," he says.

He adds: "There is no escape. Israeli war crimes against humanity have been well documented by United Nations bodies, namely the UN Human Rights Commission, and international jurists."

International experts concur that as a consequence of acts of aggression committed by its officials, or agents acting on its behalf, "Israel being the occupying power at the time of the crimes is liable to severe legal sanctions," he explained.

Vertraeten, who is in London to participate in a seminar organised by the London-based 'Palestine Return Centre' to commemorate the massacres, listed two legal sanctions: "reparations for damage and destruction of property (including compensation to victims and relatives of survivors of all massacres) and apprehension, trial and punishment of its officials as war criminals for their commission of 'grave breaches' of the law of war."

On the question of universal jurisdiction and extra-territoriality, Vertraeten said the universal jurisdiction of Belgian Courts had been introduced in the law by article 7 of the law of 1993.

"The Belgian courts are competent to acknowledge the crimes described by this law, regardless the place where they took place," he added.

Which means that any crimes committed anywhere in the world can be prosecuted in Belgium.

"This rule goes back to the principle 'aut dedere, aut judicare', which means that for crimes on international law, a country is obliged to prosecute the offender, or seek his extradition for trial."

With regard to the issue of immunity, the Belgian solicitor pointed out that by a change of the law in 1999: "The immunity attached to any official status does not put a limit to the application of the law."

He explains: "The court decided that this immunity for jurisdiction can only prevent prosecution for a certain time or for certain infractions. It does not exclude the person to all criminal responsibility."