20160712 Britische Kriegsverbrechen vor Strafgerichtshof

12.07.2016 Britische Kriegsverbrechen vor Strafgerichtshof

Killings and mistreatment by British soldiers in Iraq

The long-anticipated Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War released Wednesday contains stinging indictments of Britain’s role in the U.S.-led invasion, detailing failures starting with the exaggerated threat posed by Saddam Hussein through the disastrous lack of post-invasion planning. An element conspicuously missing from the report, however, are allegations of systemic abuse by British soldiers — accusations that are currently being considered by a domestic investigative body as well as the International Criminal Court.

Presented to the court by the British firm Public Interest Lawyers and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the January communication was followed up by a second batch of cases in September 2015, submitted by Public Interest Lawyers. By November of last year, the ICC reported that it had received 1,268 allegations of ill treatment and unlawful killings committed by British forces. Of 259 alleged killings, 47 were said to have occurred when Iraqis were in U.K. custody.

On Monday, Bensouda, the ICC prosecutor, issued a statement in response to a Telegraph article that claimed only soldiers, and not former Prime Minister Tony Blair, could be prosecuted for war crimes. That interpretation was “inaccurate,” said Bensouda; while the court does not yet have jurisdiction over “the crime of aggression” and “the specific question of the legality of the decision to use of force in Iraq in 2003,” it does have remit over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, she wrote, and refused to rule out prosecuting anyone, including Blair, for such violations.

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