International Law - Coursework Example

International Law Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (November 25, 1915 – December 10, 2006) was a Chilean military officer and dictator. He was the leader of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1974 and President of Chile from 1974 until the return of democratic rule in 1990. General Augusto Pinochet [during a visit to the U.K.] was indicted in 1998 by the Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón, arrested in London, and finally released by the UK government in 2000. Authorized to freely return to Chile, he was there first indicted by the judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, and charged of a number of crimes, before dying on 10 December 2006, without having been convicted in any case. Pinochet's arrest in London made the front-page of newspapers worldwide as not only did it involve the head of the military dictatorship that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, but it was the first time that several European judges applied the principle of universal jurisdiction, declaring themselves competent to judge crimes committed by former head of states, despite local amnesty laws. Your assignment: Belgium (on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Dajani) v. Bush The Hypothetical: On December 10, 2010, former United States President George W. Bush, while on a private visit in Brussels, Belgium, to sample chocolates for potential Christmas gifts to Laura and the twins, is arrested by Belgian police. The Belgian police are acting pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by a Brussels public prosecutor on behalf of Syrian refugees residing in Belgium. They allege that George W. Bush committed war crimes in October 2008 through the act of authorizing attacks by U.S. military units from Iraq into Syria. The arrest warrant charges George W. Bush with responsibility for the attacks that allegedly resulted in the deaths of eight villagers, four of them children of the refugee parents Mr. and Mrs. Yehia Dajani (http://www.upi.com/news/issueoftheday/2008/10/27/US_strikes_terror_rat_line_from_ Syria_into_Iraq/UPI-13461225127937/). Format: Page 1: The Indictment Outline 1-3 violations of international and/or national law and the substantiating jurisdictional authority under which former President George W. Bush should be charged and tried. Page 2: The Defense Outline 1-3 arguments that would challenge the charges (you might examine the justiciability of the charges, the court’s jurisdiction, or the immunity of the former president). Page 3: List of References Cite all sources used in the text with footnotes This document is an indictment for the arrest of the former President of the United states George W. Bush upon the grounds of war crimes and the gross violation of human rights. The former President is legally liable for these crimes and should therefore face trial. Former American President Bush is hereby deemed to be morally as well as legally responsible for the deaths of innocent men, women, and children, in a country that was not officially at war with the United States at the time of these deaths, namely Syria. These attacks resulted in the deaths of eight innocent people and drove their families towards becoming homeless refugees. Four children died in these attacks and justice should be served for the sake of their parents Mr. and Mrs. Yehia Dajani. It is alleged here that the death of innocent people in Syria was directly caused by the orders of the former President George W. Bush to American armed forces whilst he held that position in 2008. President Bush ordered missile strikes against alleged terrorist targets in Syria without any regard for the possibility of killing innocent men, women, and children when a state of war did not exist between his country and Syria. Due to his express orders Mr. and Mrs. Yehia Dajani witnessed the deaths of their four children. Former President Bush destroyed their family and took away their future.1 Not only did the missile strikes against targets in Syria kill men, women, and children; the United States against Syria could easily have regarded these attacks as an act of war. The American missile attacks resulted in the cold - blooded murder of Syrian children, and were unjustified as well as being unnecessary deaths. Former President Bush alone was responsible for ordering attacks that resulted in wanton destruction and death.2 Former President Bush is therefore wanted in Syria for murder, and should be trialed in a Syrian court of law for this crime. President Bush should have been well informed by American intelligence sources that the ordering of missile strikes against Syria entailed high risks of wounding and killing innocent civilians without guaranteeing that the intended targets of the attacks would be killed. Of course the attacks were also a completely unjustified violation of the national and territorial sovereignty of Syria itself.3 President Bush is guilty of war crimes, gross human rights violations, and the breaking of international law. The pre-meditated missile strikes he ordered were unnecessary acts of aggression and war that killed young children completely unable to defend them. These murderous acts should not go unpunished just because President Bush was the Head of State when he ordered them to be carried out. General Pinochet is the best example of a former Head of State who was arrested for his crimes against humanity. General Pinochet was arrested by British Police under a warrant issued by the Spanish Courts in 1999, and was not extradited for medical rather than legal reasons. The Spanish Courts had been able to request the arrest of Pinochet due to some of his victims in Chile also holding Spanish citizenship.4 Despite Heads of State and Heads of Government not normally been held responsible for their actions whilst holding public offices there are strong legal grounds for prosecuting former President Bush for the actions described above. The arrest of Pinochet demonstrated that law courts were prepared to trial former Heads of State for crimes or actions that they were responsible for in either their own country or abroad. Former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was actually put on trial for war crimes by a Special Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague. Milosevic would undoubtedly have been found guilty if he had not died before the trial had finished.5 President Bush should not be allowed the immunity afforded to the former Heads of States and Heads of Government as he took decisions that violated international law and resulted in needless civilian deaths in naked acts of aggression against a neutral country.6 It has been decided before under certain circumstances that the former Heads of states and governments can be charged with crimes against humanity, i.e. General Pinochet and Slobodan Milosevic. Another example was the war crimes tribunal at Nuremburg after the end of the Second World War. Had Hitler not already been dead he would surely have gone on trial. The former American President George W Bush would certainly have strong arguments to put forward in his legal defense. As a former Head of State President George W. Bush should receive the diplomatic as well as the legal immunity that erstwhile political leaders have traditionally been allowed. President Bush took decisions due to his constitutional and political position rather than out of personal malice or evil intent. International law gave Heads of State and Government immunity as they make decisions when in office, which are aimed at protecting the interests of their country and its national security. In the past American Presidents have made decisions that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people rather than eight people.7 The former American President George W Bush would argue that as a former Head of State should receive the full diplomatic as well as the legal immunity that other American Presidents have expected, and indeed have been granted. Presidents have to make tough decisions in relation to defense and foreign policy decisions. They have to decide, which decisions will protect American national security and maintain the country’s defenses. President Bush made a decision to attack the target in Syria to protect the lives of American military personnel then serving inside Iraq. It is only natural for Heads of State and Government to protect their compatriots and their armed forces. No President should be punished for serving the national interests.8 Read More