a sign of hope (?)- after 20 years: Belgium opens way forSharon trial

Belgium opens way for Sharon trial

At least 800 people were killed at Sabra and Shatila
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt says he supports a change to the
country's law on human rights, to allow the prosecution of Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon for alleged war crimes. 
Mr Verhofstadt said on Tuesday he did not object to parliament broadening the
scope of the law so that a war crime could be prosecuted "no matter where the
person accused of the crime is located," Belgian media said. 
Mr Sharon was defence minister at the time of the massacres
The country's 1993 "universal competence" law allows Belgian courts to try
cases of alleged human rights abuses committed anywhere in the would. 
But last June, a Belgian appeals court ruled that Mr Sharon could not be tried
because crimes committed abroad could only prosecuted if the suspect was on
Belgian territory. 
The case had been brought by survivors of the killing by Lebanese Christian
militiamen of hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
near Beirut in 1982. 
A 1983 Israeli investigation found that Mr Sharon - as defence minister of the
Israeli forces - was indirectly but personally responsible for the massacres. 
High-profile defendants 
In the run-up to the 2001 Israeli elections, Mr Sharon expressed regret about
the "terrible tragedy" at Sabra and Shatila - but rejected any responsibility. 
Besides Mr Sharon, war crimes proceedings have been brought in Belgium against
a number of world figures. 
These include Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuban President Fidel Castro,
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. 
But those trials were suspended in June, after the Brussels appeals court
ruling. 
Correspondents say the country's Senate could take a vote to reverse this
decision as early as next week. 
So far, the only people tried under Belgium's controversial war crimes law are
four Rwandans sentenced in 2001 for their role in the 1994 genocide of the
country's Tutsi ethnic minority.