Paris, May 14: Veteran French lawyer Jacques Verges, who is part of the legal team asked to act for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, has said that he was filing a lawsuit at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the hague accusing Britain of war crimes. Verges, a controversial courtroom performer who has in the past defended Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the terrorist known as Carlos, yesterday said he had drawn up the suit on behalf of "the families of prisoners of the coalition in which Britain participates."
"The reality of torture and systematic abuses of the dignity of Iraqi prisoners, sometimes followed by murders, both by US and British troops is no longer in question," the text of the complaint reads.
"There are strong presumptions that the facts that form the basis of our complaint were committed with the participation of nationals of the united kingdom, which unlike the US ... is a party to the (court's) statute," the text goes on.
The United States does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, which was set up by international treaty charged with ensuring that the gravest international crimes -- such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes -- do not go unpunished.
Bureau Report