Blair faces war crimes suit

BBC ^ | 23 May, 2003,

[Tailgunner Joe]

Greek lawyers say they are going to sue British officials - including Prime Minister Tony Blair - for their role in the Iraq war.

The Athens Bar Association says it will file a suit against Britain at the International Criminal Court - the recently created tribunal for cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The lawyers call the attacks by the United States and British forces against Iraq "crimes against humanity and war crimes".

They have listed a number of international treaties they say the two countries have violated.

These include the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Convention and the International Criminal Court's statute.

Dimitris Paxinos, the head of the lawyers' association, told the BBC the lawsuit will be filed within a fortnight.

He said American officials could not be prosecuted as the US is not a signatory to the ICC's founding treaty.

Eighty-nine countries signed up to the treaty creating the court, which was formally inaugurated in March in The Hague.

Mr Paxinos, who was elected by a conservative majority, says he is confident that the evidence compiled by the lawyers is strong, adding that the case would be a test of the ICC's credibility.

Anti-war Greeks

The ICC is not working yet. Last month it appointed an Argentine lawyer, Luis Moreno Ocampo, to be its first prosecutor.

A spokeswoman for the court told BBC News Online that only after Mr Ocampo was sworn in on 16 June would the court consider the Greek lawyers' case.

"We have received more than 200 communications from different parts of the world," she said.

The British Prime Minister's office has declined to comment on the announcement.

According to the BBC's Panos Polyzoidis in Athens, the move is also unlikely to go down well with the Greek Government as it will act as a reminder of the Greek public's strong anti-war feeling, which cuts across party lines.

[Tailgunner Joe]

"...nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority."

- Strobe Talbott Deputy Secretary of State, 1994-2001

[Maigrey]

Similar article posted here: What Goes Around Comes Around - Blair to be charged with war crimes by International Criminal Court!

[BigWaveBetty]

This should be interesting. Let me add:

We told you so!

[July 4th]

The ICC supporters always said that there were enough checks on the system so that cases like this would never be brought against world leaders for political reasons. The court is barely off of the ground, and here we go! This action vindicates everything the US, Israel, and yes China, Libya and a few others have done to undermine the court, as it's now clear that it's nothing but politics.

[templar]

A bit hard to feel any sympathy for someone receiving what they signed up for. The ICC has no jurisdiction over anyone not signing up for it.

[Tailgunner Joe]

I feel no sympathy at all for the socialist Blair. He is the one who insisted on going to the U.N. for permission to attack Iraq, delaying our action for over a year and uniting the international left against us.

He is getting a stiff dose of his own internationalist medicine. I hope he chokes on it.

[You Dirty Rats]

Britain lost soldiers in 1941 defending Greece from Hitler, and then chased the Communists out in 1944-5. Greece would have spent four decades behind the Iron Curtain if not for Britain and the USA. This is how Greece repays Britain?

At least France has military victories more recent than 2500 years ago. Greece last won a war in the fifth Century BC. Other than Helen Thomas, who remembers that??

[rmlew]

Depends. do you consider the Macedonians and Byzantines to be Greek?
Or do you only view the Peleponesse and Attica to be Greek?

[the_doc]

I didn't read the article, but I think it's a great idea. We should throw the book at Jayson Blair and the New York Times.

[David Hunter]

This is shocking, disgusting and outrageous. Maybe the "International Criminal Court" socialist scumbags should consider prosecuting Saddam Hussein's henchmen rather than a leader of the free world like Blair. The Greeks are a disgrace too, if it weren't for Britain they would have been part of the Soviet Empire, but perhaps they wouldn't have minded considering how much they love all things Russian.

Blair was a fool to ratify the ICC treaty. The ICC is a joke it won't go after psychopathic dictators (since they are friends of France and Germany), instead it will try to damage the leaders of democratic countries who make unpopular military decisions.