Prominent French lawyers prepare to sue Sarkozy over war crimes in Libya
In Libya, NATO keeps killing civilians as a part of their humanitarian aid mission. Meanwhile, some Western leaders are facing charges at home over the illegality of their military intervention in a sovereign country whose people didn't ask for nor wanted to be "protected" by bombs.
Reports and pictures of many civilian casualties in Libya made a significant number of prominent French lawyers turn against their government. Among those is Roland Dumas, former French Foreign Minister (1984-1986 and 1988-1993). Dumas has said he wants to prosecute president Nicholas Sarkozy for committing war crimes in Libya.
Dumas also said he is ready to defend Muammar Gaddafi in the NATO-supported so-called International Criminal Court, which has issued an illegal warrant for his arrest. However, Dumas believes the Libyan leader will never face the fake court in The Hague.
“If NATO finds him they'll kill him,” he said. “Some states are now claiming the right to kill, against all international law.”
Another renowned and prominent French lawyer, Jacques Verges calls the Libyan war a new Vietnam, where the US sprayed tens of millions of liters of toxins on crops in the 60s and 70s, causing brain disorders, miscarriages and birth defects to this day.
“They are using missiles with depleted uranium, which cause cancer,” he said. “In Tripoli I saw people crippled by NATO attacks – office workers who have nothing to do with the fighting. That is why we are suing President Sarkozy for crimes against humanity.”
NATO first denied bombing the residence in Tripoli where 13 civilians, including four children, died. It then called the place a military command center. Journalist Michel Colon went to see what it really housed.
“Books, videos, Spiderman toys, cultural books, nothing military,” were what he saw there.
Marcel Ceccaldi, another lawyer, is defending Libyan civilian Kahled El Awidi who lost his wife, child and grandchildren when their home was bombed by NATO.
“NATO is deliberately waging a campaign of terror. Their bombings targeted the electricity, water and food supply,” Ceccaldi said. “After months of daily NATO bombs and thousands of deaths, people just can't take it anymore.”
Western leaders are poised for their first serious legal challenge over Libya. If they stop the cases coming to court altogether, added Ceccaldi, it will prove once and for all that Western justice really is run by the politicians, not the rule of law.
Mathaba Editing of Russia Today article.
