One Belgian and 13 Gazans to sue Israeli officials for war crimes

[ 24/06/2010 - 01:03 PM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- A Belgian doctor of Palestinian origin and 13 other Palestinians from the Gaza Strip hired two lawyers to file lawsuits against 14 Israeli politicians including Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni and Matan Vilnai on a charge of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in the last war on the Strip.

The lawyers, Georges-Henri Beauthier and Alexis Deswaef said they were acting on behalf of 14 Palestinian victims, one of them is Anwer Al-Akka, a Belgian national.

Lawyer Beauthier stated that the Belgian attorney general would decide if such lawsuits can be accepted legally or not by the end of August, pointing out that the Belgian law, which has universal jurisdiction, can be enforced in such cases if those who lodge complaints hold the Belgian nationality.

Beauthier noted that he was acting on behalf of the Belgian doctor and his family.

In a separate incident, Egyptian lawmaker Mohamed Al-Beltagi said he gave his testimony on Israel's deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy to the technical office of the Egyptian prosecutor on Wednesday morning.

Beltagi stated in a press statement Thursday that he gave a detailed testimony, in his capacity as one of the participants in the convoy, adding that he leveled charges against the Israeli premier, his war minister, the chief of staff, the navy chief, the foreign minister and their ambassador to Egypt.

He said he demanded the prosecutor to summon the Israeli officials, especially the ambassador, to hear their statements about the charges leveled against them.

Lawmaker Hazem Farouk, who also participated in the convoy, said he would give his testimony on the incident next Saturday because of his busy schedule.

In the same context, the Haaretz newspaper quoted the Israeli military radio as saying that 33 Greek citizens who took part in the Gaza-bound Flotilla are planning to sue senior Israeli officials, including the war minister, the chief of staff and the navy chief.

The Greek activists also plan to sue soldiers and police officers who participated in the military attack on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which resulted in the death of nine activists, the newspaper said.

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