ICC Looks at Allegations Against UK Troops in Iraq
Mon Jul 28, 4:19 PM ET
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the world's first permanent war crimes court will review a dossier containing allegations of human rights abuses by British troops in Iraq, the court said on Monday.
Members of the Athens Bar Association have called on International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to investigate 22 alleged incidents involving British forces in the war, the court said in a statement.
The Greek lawyers handed a dossier containing 74 press reports and 13 video tapes of news reports from the war in Iraq to the prosecutor.
"The Office of the Prosecutor handed a written letter acknowledging receipt of this communication to the members of the Association and will review the content of the communication and the dossier," The Hague (news - web sites)-based court said.
"Experts of the Athens Bar Association prepared 22 charges referring to specific incidents and requested the Office of the Prosecutor to exercise the jurisdiction of the Court in crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide," the ICC said.
A British Foreign Ministry spokesman said London was aware of the reports but had "nothing to add by way of comment, except to say the British government has acted in accordance with international law throughout the conflict."
The ICC has received around 500 complaints from 66 countries since the global court came into force in July 2002. It has not yet initiated a full investigation. Britain and Greece are among 91 countries that recognize and support the court.
More than 100 complaints so far have concerned the U.S.-led war in Iraq, most of those protests against the war itself. The United States does not back the court.
The ICC, set up to tackle war crimes and crimes against humanity, can act only if national courts cannot or will not, and has jurisdiction solely where crimes were committed by nationals of a state party to the court or on such a state's territory.
The prosecutor said earlier this month he was focusing on the Democratic Republic of Congo for what could lead to his maiden formal investigation. His examination of complaints of atrocities in Congo's northeastern province of Ituri could produce the court's first case.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030728/wl_nm/warcrimes_iraq_britain_dc_4
Mon Jul 28, 4:19 PM ET
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the world's first permanent war crimes court will review a dossier containing allegations of human rights abuses by British troops in Iraq, the court said on Monday.
Members of the Athens Bar Association have called on International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to investigate 22 alleged incidents involving British forces in the war, the court said in a statement.
The Greek lawyers handed a dossier containing 74 press reports and 13 video tapes of news reports from the war in Iraq to the prosecutor.
"The Office of the Prosecutor handed a written letter acknowledging receipt of this communication to the members of the Association and will review the content of the communication and the dossier," The Hague (news - web sites)-based court said.
"Experts of the Athens Bar Association prepared 22 charges referring to specific incidents and requested the Office of the Prosecutor to exercise the jurisdiction of the Court in crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide," the ICC said.
A British Foreign Ministry spokesman said London was aware of the reports but had "nothing to add by way of comment, except to say the British government has acted in accordance with international law throughout the conflict."
The ICC has received around 500 complaints from 66 countries since the global court came into force in July 2002. It has not yet initiated a full investigation. Britain and Greece are among 91 countries that recognize and support the court.
More than 100 complaints so far have concerned the U.S.-led war in Iraq, most of those protests against the war itself. The United States does not back the court.
The ICC, set up to tackle war crimes and crimes against humanity, can act only if national courts cannot or will not, and has jurisdiction solely where crimes were committed by nationals of a state party to the court or on such a state's territory.
The prosecutor said earlier this month he was focusing on the Democratic Republic of Congo for what could lead to his maiden formal investigation. His examination of complaints of atrocities in Congo's northeastern province of Ituri could produce the court's first case.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030728/wl_nm/warcrimes_iraq_britain_dc_4 
