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AP. 30 September 2002. Americans Spared War Crimes Court. BRUSSELS -- The European Union agreed Monday to spare U.S. citizens the fate of standing trial on war crimes charges in the newly created International Criminal Court. Human rights groups denounced the move as caving in to American pressure at the expense of the war crimes tribunal. The EU foreign ministers agreed on a deal preventing them from extraditing U.S. soldiers or government officials to the ICC provided Washington guarantees any Americans suspected of war crimes will be tried in the United States. Under the compromise, EU countries will sign accords with Washington exempting Americans from an ICC trial, if they wish. Britain and Italy have said they may do that. Those opposed to such accords -- for fear of a backlash at home -- will apply existing extradition conditions to achieve the same goal, officials said. For instance, soldiers stationed abroad are usually exempt from prosecution in the nation where they are based under specific bilateral accords. Also, EU nations may invoke immunity agreements for U.S. civilians -- politicians, defense department personnel, Central Intelligence Agency staffers and others- - to keep them out of the ICC. Richard Dicker of the New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized the EU compromise as "a step backward." He said the legality of wriggling out of commitments to hand war crimes suspect to the ICC may well be tested by the court when it asks countries that signed the ICC charter why they let U.S. suspects go free, he said. Amnesty International said in a statement while countries may not sign exemption deals with Washington, the chance that "U.S. citizens and others (get) impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the ICC or any other court" remained a possibility. "U.S. pressure has paid off," said Dick Oosting, Director of Amnesty International's EU Office. "The EU has allowed the U.S. to shift the terms of the debate from legal principle to political opportunism ... Accepting the possibility of new bilateral agreements violates both the spirit and the letter" of the ICC charter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ##### ##### ##### ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
