CHARGE PREPARED AGAINST BELGIAN OFFICIALS FOR INTERROGATIONS IN GUANTANAMO

ECCHR JOINS CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

ECCHR's partner attorney in Belgium, Christophe Marchand, announced in mid-July that he and his colleague Walter van Steenbrugge will be filing criminal charges against several Belgian officials. Both lawyers represent the Belgian Guantanamo inmate Mosa Zemmouri, who was held in US custody between 2002 and 2005. The complaint alleges that Belgian officials facilitated the torture and cruel treatment of Zemmouri by supporting the work of US agencies and visiting Guantanamo Bay three times - in April 2002, December 2003 and February 2005. These offenses constitute war crimes according to Belgian and international law. Wolfgang Kaleck and Andreas Schüller represented ECCHR at meetings in Berlin and Ghent in which the complaint was prepared. ECCHR supports this complaint and will be closely involved with the proceedings.

GUANTANAMO AND U.S. TORTURE PROGRAM UNDER LEGAL CHALLENGE

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS SEEK TO INTERVENE IN SPANISH CASE ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S TORTURE PROGRAM

On 27 April 2010 the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR, Berlin) along with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR, New York), filed submissions in two key cases currently pending before the Spanish Courts that are seeking to investigate the torture program conducted by the United States under the Bush Administration.

THE CASE AGAINST RUMSFELD, GONZALES AND OTHERS

Between 2004 and 2007 three complaints were filed in Germany and in France against members of the US-Government, including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and members of the military forces, for war crimes, torture and other criminal acts, which took place in the military prisons of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. In all three cases, however, the court authority in Karlsruhe and Paris, where the cases were filed, refused to initiate investigations.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE COMPLAINT'S ALLEGATION

From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in charge of ordering, allowing and implementing abusive interrogation techniques in the context of the “War on Terror” since September 11, 2001, must be investigated and held accountable. The complaint alleges that American military and civilian high-ranking officials named as defendants in the case have committed war crimes against detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the U.S.-controlled Guantánamo Bay prison camp.

CRADDOCK CASE

A formal communication to the United Nations Specials Rapporteurs on Torture, on the right to Physical and Mental Health, and on the Protection of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism has been submitted on April 2, 2009 by the ECCHR and other actors. In this communication, U.S. Army General Bantz John Craddock, currently the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO and Commander of U.S.-European Command (USEUCOM), is addressed in his former capacity as Commander of the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) from November 2004 until October 2006.