Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon eluded imprisonment, although he could get into there over anti-human charges. The court of appeal of Brussels dismissed the case about Sharon’s possible responsibility for mass murder of 1982 in Sabra and Shatila (Lebanon).
As a representative of the court said, the claim had not been accepted for consideration on the ground of article 12 of the Criminal Code of Belgium, which prohibited judging a person, who committed a crime beyond the borders of a country, unless that person was arrested on Belgium’s territory. Therefore, the investigation of the case will be stopped, although this case has been waiting for the investigation since September.
The suit against Sharon on war crimes charges was presented to 23 victims and relatives of those people that were killed in 1982 in Sabra and Shatila. Up to 3.5 thousand people were killed at that time, while the Israeli army was totally inactive over there (Sharon was taking the position of the defense minister of Israel).
The suit against the incumbent head of the Israeli government was filed on the ground of the Belgian law of 1993, pursuant to which the courts of this country are entitled to consider the incidents of violation of international right. The court ruled on Wednesday that Belgian courts could consider the suits on serious violations of human rights anyway. But it deems that Sharon’s case is not one of them.
Belgian courts have become the talk of the town long ago, they are like mini international tribunals. Belgians are proud of their “progressive” laws, but the rest of the world ignores their courts. They had their chance to put Sharon on trial, but they did not do a thing about it. They proved it once again that law does not make everyone equal. Let’s just hope that the International Criminal Court, which has been established recently, will accept the case on massacre in Sabra and Shatila.
Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru
Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
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