Statement by the lawyers of the victims of Sabra and Shatila on the decision of the Court of Appeals in Brussels, 26 June 2002

Above: Belgium's lawyer for 23 survivors of the Sabra and Chatilla massacres, Luc Walleyn, talks to the media at the Palace of Justice in Brussels, Wednesday, June 26, 2002. A Belgian appeals court ruled Wednesday that Belgium cannot investigate complaints of war crimes against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for a 1982 massacre in two Palestinian refugee camps. The three-judge panel said a case could not proceed against a person who is not in Belgium, despite a 1993 law granting courts here "universal jurisdiction" over war crimes committed anywhere. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

The course of justice has been interrupted today, but efforts to halt impunity for war crimes committed in Beirut 20 years ago continue in Belgium and elsewhere. The hopes of the victims in the massacres of Sabra and Shatila to end the impunity of those responsible for their suffering, raised last year under Belgium's law of universal jurisdiction, will not be dashed.

Today's decision represents a setback both for international humanitarian law and for all victims who seek justice for large-scale killings, acts of torture and rape, and disappearances committed against them and their families. Impunity in this case continues notably for Mr. Ariel Sharon who, as the commander of the operation which was carried out ''under his supervision," was found ''personally responsible'' for these massacres by an Israeli commission of enquiry. This is confirmed by the chief US diplomat in the region at the time, Mr. Morris Draper, who said recently that he ''he had no doubt whatsoever'' about Sharon's responsibility in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila.

This decision is also a setback for the course of justice and the attainment of peace in the Middle East. Pursuing a judicial course, far removed from violence, is interrupted on the grounds of narrow procedure at a time when the law was clear and the preparatory works had confirmed that narrow grounds should not prevent the exercise of universal jurisdiction for particularly heinous crimes as defined by international humanitarian law: war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

We should also recall the achievements of the case to date: new questions have been raised, notably concerning the role of the Israeli army on the ground and its large-scale participation in the hundreds of "disappearances" the last day of the massacre and afterwards. These new and troubling facts must be fully investigated. In terms of the larger human rights battle for accountability, all the major international human rights organisations have supported the search for justice by the victims of Sabra and Shatila. Hope across the world for ending impunity has risen at a time of escalating violence in the region.

Today, the Palestinian people lack effective courts of law and have no means of defending and vindicating their rights as defined by International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions. This absence of judicial recourse cannot continue. We should also recall that Mr Sharon and his main aide, Mr Yaron, have been charged twice ('mis en cause') by the prosecution in Belgium: in the first instance for war crimes, in the second by the Attorney-General for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

This is an historic benchmark in the Sabra and Shatila massacres victims' search for justice in a neutral forum of law. The efforts to end impunity will not cease. We will consider the appeals allowed to our clients under Belgian law in the light of a closer study of the decision today. The road for justice ahead is still long.

Chibli Mallat, Michael Verhaeghe, Luc Walleyn
Beirut and Brussels, 26 June 2002

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