Brussels
Bowing to pressure from the U.S., Belgium this week said it would amend its “universal jurisdiction” law, which allows charges of war crimes committed anywhere to be brought in Belgian courts. Iraqi expatriates earlier this year charged President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with war crimes stemming from the Iraq war. Those cases were thrown out, but the U.S., fearing a rash of politically motivated lawsuits, threatened to move NATO headquarters out of Belgium unless the 1993 law was amended. Belgium has now agreed to limit the law’s scope to cases where Belgians are directly involved as victims or suspects. “Certain organizations have used this law in an abusive manner,” Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said. “Modifying the law will make that impossible.” There was no immediate U.S. reaction.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is Donald Trump behind potential Gaza ceasefire and will it work?Today's Big Question Israel and Hamas are 'on the brink' of a peace deal and a hostage exchange, for which the incoming president may take credit
-
Chemnitz: an 'unlikely renaissance' for the 'forgotten' townThe Week Recommends The birthplace of Germany's industrial revolution is hoping to reinvent itself
-
Maha Kumbh Mela: world's largest religious festival gets under way in IndiaIn The Spotlight Politics of Hindu nationalism has cast a shadow over event touted as biggest ever gathering of humanity
