http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\27\story_27-10-2011_pg7_1
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Gaddafi family to file NATO war crimes complaint
* Libya’s interim ruler urges NATO to stay till year end
PARIS: Muammar Gaddafi’s family plans to file a war crimes complaint
against NATO with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alliance’s
alleged role in his death, the family’s lawyer said Wednesday.
The 69-year-old ex-strongman was captured and killed Thursday near the
city of Sirte in circumstances that are still unclear, but it has been
confirmed NATO aircraft fired on pro-Gaddafi vehicles driving in a convoy from
the city.
Marcel Ceccaldi, a French lawyer who previously worked for Gaddafi’s
regime and now represents his family, told AFP that a complaint would be filed
with the Hague-based ICC because NATO’s attack on the convoy led directly to
his death.
“The wilful killing (of someone protected by the Geneva Convention) is
defined as a war crime by Article 8 of the ICC’s Rome Statute,” he said. He
said he could not yet say when the complaint would be filed, but said it would
target both NATO executive bodies and the leaders of alliance member states.
“Gaddafi’s homicide shows that the goal of (NATO) member states was not to
protect civilians but to overthrow the regime,” Ceccaldi said.
“Either the ICC intervenes as an independent and impartial jurisdiction
or it doesn’t, in which case force will overrule the law,” he said. Libya’s
ruling National Transitional Council has announced an investigation into
Gaddafi’s death.
International disquiet has grown over how Gaddafi met his end after NTC
fighters hauled him out of a culvert where he was hiding following NATO air
strikes on the convoy in which he had been trying to flee his falling hometown.
Libya’s interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil on Wednesday urged NATO to
continue its Libya campaign until year’s end, saying loyalists of slain despot
Muammar Gaddafi still pose a threat to the country.
Abdel Jalil’s comments, made at a Doha conference of military allies of
his National Transitional Council (NTC), came a day after Gaddafi’s body was
buried in secret under cover of darkness after being displayed in public for
four days.
“We hope (NATO) will continue its campaign until at least the end of this
year to serve us and neighbouring countries,” Abdel Jalil, NTC chairman, told
the Conference of Friends Committee. This request is aimed at “ensuring that no
arms are infiltrated into those countries and to ensure the security of Libyans
from some remnants of Gaddafi’s forces who have fled to nearby countries,” he
added.
The NTC is also seeking help from NATO in “developing Libya’s defence and
security systems,” Abdel Jalil told the conference.
In Brussels, diplomats said NATO had decided to delay a formal decision
to end Libyan air operations until Friday after the NTC’s request for an
extension and a Russian demand for UN consultations. agencies
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