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luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
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 Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject: Blair to be indicted for war crimes under Scottish law? |
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| Quote: | Call for Scotland to try Blair as 'war criminal'
IAN SWANSON
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR (iswanson@edinburghnews.com)
SCOTLAND'S Lord Advocate was today urged to prosecute Tony Blair as a war criminal for the invasion of Iraq.
Former MP Jim Sillars said he had written to Elish Angiolini with a 10,000-word document setting out a formal complaint against the Prime Minister.
And he said Scots law allowed Mr Blair to be put on trial despite such a move being ruled out south of the Border.
The move came as Westminster Tories called for an immediate inquiry into the war in Iraq in a move expected to cause a Labour backbench rebellion. Shadow foreign secretary William Hague was using a Commons debate to call for a hearing by senior politicians with powers to summon officials and military commanders.
Mr Sillars, who is married to independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald, claimed Mr Blair was guilty of conspiracy with others to wage aggressive war, and waging aggressive war against the state of Iraq in March 2003, contrary to international law and the law of Scotland.
In his letter to the Lord Advocate, he said: "I am requesting you to investigate this complaint and prosecute in a Scottish court."
Mr Sillars emphasised that despite his political past - first as a Labour MP and then as SNP MP and deputy leader - the complaint against Mr Blair was based on legal principles and case law and was not a political initiative.
He told Ms Angiolini in the letter: "You will find that the research is sound, and that the case against Tony Blair is a strong one. You, of course, will be able to dig wider and deeper than I can as an ordinary citizen, and I am sure that when you do you will reach the same conclusion as contained in the complaint."
Mr Sillars said it was generally believed that Mr Blair could not be indicted for war crimes over Iraq.
But Mr Sillars claimed Scotland's High Court had "declaratory powers" which enabled it to embrace international crimes in Scots law.
He said: "I have spent since January of this year, with a break for the election, researching the case against Blair and whether he could be indicted through the Scottish criminal justice system. The complaint lodged with the Lord Advocate shows the conclusion to that effort. Blair can, in my opinion, be tried in a Scottish court; and the evidence of his conspiracy through deception, lies and misinformation, and his intention of committing the illegal act of regime change through aggressive war, is quite clear. "
Mr Sillars said the Prime Minister had carried on because he felt immune from prosecution.
Mr Hague said today that the presence of UK soldiers in Iraq could not be used as an excuse to "indefinitely postpone" the inquiry. He wants an investigation along the lines of the wide-ranging inquiry into the Falklands War chaired by philosopher Oliver Franks.
Downing Street has said it will hold a probe into the war and the faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction, but not while UK troops are in the country.
And Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is expected to dismiss the call, arguing there have already been four inquiries into various aspects of the war and that another one would distract from the efforts of troops on the ground.
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=912232007 |
| Quote: | Plea to try Blair as a war criminal in Scotland KEVIN SCHOFIELD June 12 2007
A former deputy leader of the SNP has launched a bid to have Prime Minister Tony Blair prosecuted in Scotland for his decision to go to war in Iraq.
Jim Sillars, the former MP for Govan, alleges Mr Blair "waged aggressive war" against the Middle East country and can be charged under Scots law.
Mr Sillars submitted a 24-page document supporting his case to Elish Angiolini, the Lord Advocate, on Friday and yesterday said he was confident that the Prime Minister would eventually stand trial in Scotland.
However, a leading expert on international law said it was highly unlikely that Mr Sillars's attempts to have Mr Blair prosecuted would succeed.
Speaking at the Scottish Parliament alongside his wife, the Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald, Mr Sillars said Scotland was now the only place in the world where the Prime Minister could face legal action over Iraq.
He said: "There is overwhelming evidence that Blair is guilty of a conspiracy to wage aggressive war and of waging aggressive war.
"There can be no prosecution at the international criminal court because it doesn't have jurisdiction, there is no chance of a special court being convened by the United Nations because Britain and the US have a veto and no chance of a prosecution in England and Wales.
"But Scots law is an entirely different entity and entirely different jurisdiction with different rules and procedures."
Mr Sillars said the High Court of Justiciary has powers to declare new ways of committing existing crimes, namely waging aggressive war on another country.
He argued those so-called "declaratory powers" would therefore allow Ms Angiolini to bring a case against the Prime Minister.
Alongside his legal document, Mr Sillars has also submitted a range of documents taken from the internet which he claims prove that Mr Blair took part in a conspiracy in order to justify the military campaign in Iraq.
These include cabinet memos, the memoirs of the former weapons inspector Hans Blix, excerpts from the Butler report into the war and other pieces of research from both sides of the Atlantic.
Mr Sillars said that, taken together, the evidence he has gathered since beginning his investigations in January provide a compelling case for the Prime Minister's prosecution.
"The Lord Advocate would have to give a very good explanation to say why, with the evidence presented to her, she didn't proceed with an investigation," he said.
"This is a serious document about a very serious matter."
Mr Sillars said demonstrating no-one was above the law would lend moral authority to the West's battle against international terrorism.
He added: "It's the morality of our position that will ultimately determine whether we win that struggle or not."
However, John Grant, a former professor at Glasgow University's law school and now a professor at Lewis & Clark law school in Portland, Oregon, last night said he was not convinced that Mr Sillars's attempts to have Tony Blair stand trial will be successful.
He said: "The Scottish declaratory power, while used relatively recently in minor areas, has been seen by some as contrary to European human rights law, which requires that crimes should be known in advance of the acts that constitute them and not legislated by courts."
A spokesman for the Crown Office said: "We can confirm receipt of correspondence from Jim Sillars. A response will be issued in due course."
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The government has always acted in accordance with international law."
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1463534.0.0.php |
go on the scottish!!!  |
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faceless
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Joined: 25 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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I didn't know that about Scottish Law, but it sounds potentially great. I watched a bit of the deabte on BBC Parliament earlier about the chances for an Iraq Inquiry; during it a Plaid Cymru MP pointed out that despite the government's protestations that an inquiry would put British troops at risk, that a very similar inquiry had taken place in 1916 when British troops were in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and that the government then had had the grace to accept its error and allow the inquiry.
But that's by the by - here's hoping Sillars' approach works out. |
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