Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
17
Amnesty International September 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
from sleeping pills. He acknowledged that the
requested urology examination, the results of which
were negative, had been postponed but that this was
due to “social actions in the prison.” He confirmed that
Ibrahim Bah was subject to an order to leave the
country and could be removed if intercepted on
Belgian territory.
Ibrahim Bah indicated his intention of lodging a
criminal complaint about his treatment with the public
prosecutor’s office.
Death during forcible deportation -
the case of Semira Adamu
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
Semira Adamu died as a result of asphyxiation
following a deportation attempt of September 1998
during which gendarmes pressed a cushion over her
face while on board an aircraft at Brussels Zaventem
airport. The so-called “cushion technique” - a
dangerous but authorized method of restraint at that
time - allowed gendarmes to press a cushion against
the mouth, but not the nose, of a recalcitrant deportee.
In 1998 three of the escorting gendarmes were put
under criminal investigation in connection with
possible manslaughter charges.In December 2000 the
Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office submitted the
dossier to the relevant Brussels court (chambre du
conseil), requesting that the three gendarmes be
charged with manslaughter but not with violating the
Belgian Law on Racism, as had been requested by
civil parties to the proceedings.
In April 2001 the court heard part of the
submissions of the various parties to the criminal
proceedings and further proceedings were scheduled
for 18 May. However, by then lawyers representing
Semira Adamu’s relatives had lodged a new complaint
with the Public Prosecutor’s office against another
four gendarmerie officers, including the colonel in
charge of the airport deportation unit and a gendarme
who filmed the deportation operation without
intervening. When the court convened in May it
decided to postpone further proceedings on the case
until September.
Universal jurisdiction over war crimes,
genocide and crimes against humanity
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/03/00)
In June Brussels Court of Assizes convicted four
Rwandese nationals of war crimes committed in the
context of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Alphonse
Higaniro, Sister Gertrude Mukangango and Sister
Julienne Kizito were convicted of all charges and
sentenced to 20, 15 and 12 years’ imprisonment
respectively. Vincent Ntezimana was convicted on
some of the charges but acquitted on others and
sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. AI publicly
welcomed the judgment as a great step in the fight
against impunity.
Although several individuals believed to have
played a leading role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
were known to be living in various countries in
Europe, North America and Africa, by the end of June
2001 only one other country - Switzerland - had tried
and sentenced a Rwandese national for war crimes
under its national jurisdiction. Other trials of those
accused of participating in the genocide have taken
place either in the national courts in Rwanda or at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR),
set up by the UN in Arusha, Tanzania.
AI calls on states to ensure prompt, thorough,
impartial
and
independent
investigations
in
accordance with international standards, wherever
allegations of crimes under international law are
made. If such an investigation shows that there is
sufficient admissible evidence for a prosecution, then,
in accordance with international law which allows the
national courts of any state to try people accused of
such crimes, regardless of the nationality of the
alleged perpetrators or victims and regardless of
where the crimes were committed, AI calls on states
to bring the accused to trial or extradite them to
another country for trial, provided certain safeguards
are met. No one should be extradited to a country
which cannot assure that any trial on such charges
meets international standards for fairness and does not
result in the imposition of the death penalty or other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Belgian legislation enacted in 1993 and 1999
makes specific provision for Belgian courts to
exercise universal jurisdiction over war crimes in
international and non-international armed conflict,
genocide and crimes against humanity, including
torture. The day before the judgment in the Rwanda
case, the Foreign Minister called for the legislation to
be revised in a way which would seriously limit its
effectiveness. AI called for Belgium not to weaken its
universal jurisdiction legislation in any way.
AI understands that since 1998, in the context of
this legislation, a number of criminal complaints have
been lodged with the Belgian courts against several
leaders and prominent members of past and present
administrations of various foreign states. As of June
2001 the officials named in the complaints declared
admissible or pending declarations of admissibility
reportedly included:
·
former Chilean Head of State General Augusto
Pinochet;
·
former Head of State Khieu Samphan, former
Prime Minister Nuon Chea and former Foreign
Minister Ieng Sary of the 1975-1979 Democratic
Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) government in
Cambodia;
·
former Speaker of Parliament and President of the
Islamic Republic of Iran Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar
Rafsanjani;
·
former Moroccan Minister of Interior Driss Basri;
·
the late President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and
acting Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia
Ndombasi and several
other government
ministers of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo;
·
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda;
·
Former President Hissein Habré of Chad;