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Lawsuit filed in Germany against Rumsfeld for war crimes
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday November 14, 2006
Berlin- Eleven former prisoners of the US armed forces
on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Germany calling for
outgoing US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and
other American officials to be investigated for war
crimes. Backed by human rights groups, the 11
ex-prisoners say they were tortured at Iraq's Abu Ghraib
prison and the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on
the orders of Rumsfeld and other top members of US
President George W Bush's government.
Washington says abuses documented in photos from Abu
Ghraib of soldiers beating and assaulting Iraqi
prisoners were one-off events perpetrated by rogue
guards.
Germany has been chosen for the lawsuit because the
country's legal system allows war crimes committed
anywhere in the world - even if alleged perpetrators are
non-Germans - to be tried by German courts.
The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of the alleged US
torture victims by 22 individuals and rights groups,
including the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.
It charges that Rumsfeld and others ordered, aided, or
failed to prevent war crimes.
"Abiding by the absolute ban on the use of torture
should be a matter of course," said Wolfgang Kaleck, a
lawyer who led preparation of the lawsuit.
A key witness for the bid to put Rumsfeld and others on
trial in Germany is the former commander of US prisons
in Iraq, Brig. General Janis Karpinski, who alleges she
was made a scapegoat for the Abu Ghraib scandal in order
to protect senior officials.
A similar attempt to have Rumsfeld charged under German
law in 2004 was rejected by the country's federal
prosecutor.
Kaleck admits the present bid may again fail.
"You know, it could be that we again suffer a legal
defeat. But we have at least made our message loud and
clear: It was torture and it was ordered from the top,"
he said.
Kaleck adds that even if German courts decline to
investigate Rumsfeld, the outgoing US defense secretary
will have to live with the insecurity that he could
suddenly face legal problems in other countries like
Spain or Sweden.
In addition to Rumsfeld those named in the lawsuit
include among others former CIA Director George Tenet,
former commander of all US forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen.
Ricardo Sanchez and US Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales.
© 2006 dpa German Press Agency
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