Twenty-eight survivors of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres in Beirut 19 years ago lodged an official complaint against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Brussels Monday, under a 1993 law allowing Belgium to try foreign nationals for war crimes committed abroad.
According to a report in the UK press, the move could not have come at a more embarrassing time for the Belgian government, which assumes the EU's rotating presidency on July 1.
The Guardian said on Tuesday that the proposed trial was likely to make it far more difficult for Brussels to mediate between the Israelis and the Palestinians, a crucial part of the EU job.
The fact that Belgium is even considering the request is certain to enrage Sharon, whose aides reacted with fury to a BBC Panorama documentary about the massacre shown on Sunday, which considered whether he could and should be tried for war crimes for his role in the affair.
Sharon was the defense minister responsible for sending the Israeli Army into Lebanon in 1983 and allowing the Lebanese Christian Phalangists to run amok in the two Palestinian refugee camps, killing as many as 2,000 people.
According to the Guardian, a Belgian judge will examine the 52-page testimony presented by 28 Palestinians and Lebanese and decide whether they have a strong enough case to warrant trying Sharon. But the judge is likely to be pressed to drop the case for political reasons, said the paper.
Belgian lawyer Michael Verhaeghe, who is representing the survivors, said there was sufficient evidence to convict those responsible.
"The facts in this case undeniably reveal crimes against humanity," he told reporters, quoted by Haaretz.
If the Belgian judge decides to press charges, Sharon could be arrested if he enters Belgium. However, lawyers said as a serving head of state he would likely enjoy immunity.
Four Rwandans were sentenced to between 12 and 20 years in jail this month for their role in the 1994 genocide of the country's Tutsi ethnic minority – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
