arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Communiqué of the lawyers of the Sabra and Shatila victims
by Luc Walleyn Michaël Verhaeghe Chibli Mallat Friday May 17, 2002 at 12:58 PM

Following the reopening of the debate at our request and at the request of the attorney-general in the wake of the decision of the World Court on the Congo v. Belgium case, we had an extensive session of hearings this morning at the court of appeals in Brussels. We are satisfied with a number of developments, especially after it was widely announced that the proceedings had been frustrated by the Yerodia decisions. The attorney-general confirmed this morning his support to our position on the full jurisdiction under the Belgian 1993 Statute Law and rejected the interpretation of other judges in the Yerodia case in Brussels.

On immunity, the attorney-general, whilst recognising personal and temporal immunity for Mr.Sharon, confirmed the need for the investigation to proceed in the case.

For our part, we insisted on the fact that immunities cannot be recognised for the crime of genocide, since the 1948 Genocide Convention expressly rules out such immunities. This issue was not raised in the Congo v. Belgium case and therefore immunity could not be deemed relevant for our case.

Secondly, we have insisted on the need to restrict immunity to the simple issuance and delivery of an arrest warrant, in accordance with the actual decision of the World Court.

Another development is the positive public reaction to the attempts to restrict the 1993 Statute Law too narrowly. We are pleased with the joint initiative of a wide range of victims of crimes committed in Rwanda, Guatemala and Chad with whom we met in Brussels yesterday and who have mobilised NGO's in support of an effective protection of the law.

We particularly welcome the long and thorough study of Amnesty International ("Belgian court has jurisdiction in the Sharon case to investigate Sabra and Shatila killings"), issued yesterday. We formally deposited this study at the court hearing this morning.

Mrs. Samiha Hijazi, one of the 28 original plaintiffs for whom we lodged the complaint on 18 June 2001, came from Sabra and Shatila to attend the hearing in Brussels. Mrs. Samiha Hijazi lost her 10 year old son and her newly wed 17-year old daughter in the massacre.

We are confident that the decision of the court, announced for 26 June 2002, will finally open the road to justice to the victims of one of the greatest unpunished crimes of the 20th century.