Uribe and the ICC, a lawsuit which leaves a lot to be desired
Andean diplomatic crisis > SpecialsBy Marsares
Saturday 8 March 2008 17:22 COT
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The International Criminal Court is not a joker used to threat, to get rid of someone or simply to show you’re doing something.
The statements by Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, ratified on the OAS by its ambassador Camilo Ospina, regarding to file a lawsuit against Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to the International Criminal Court “for sponsoring and founding genocides”, leave a lot to be desired.
First, the ICC jurisdiction is a residual one, which means that it becomes competent only if the country where the crime was committed does not want or cannot prosecute the alleged perpetrator.
Therefore, before turning to the ICC, this first instance should be tried. If Uribe wants to take the case to the ICC he must file the lawsuit first to Venezuelan courts or even the Colombian ones and, after exhausting this instance and in case of not getting any results, to go to the Court.
Likewise, it must be taken into account that we’re talking about the trial of a chief of State, and therefore it must be clarified if in this case the Court holds jurisdiction to probe and eventually take him to trial.
Another issue is to clarify exactly which is the crime Colombia is taking Chávez to the Court. "Sponsoring and founding genocides" does not exist in principle, and therefore it must be established rigorously the punishable conduct or offence, framing it inside the defined ones as war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Finally, the evidences presented by the Colombian government to the international media and opinion are just hints which do not establish, in a conclusive way, an alleged responsibility by Chávez.
They are e-mails and letters addressed by Raúl Reyes to the FARC’s Secretariat where he lets them know about facts like the visit of Ecuadorian Security Minister Gustavo Larrea, the alleged purchase of uranium or the alleged US$300 million received from Venezuelan government as support of their cause.
Besides the laptops were not examined by a neutral body but by one of the parts interested, which undermines its judicial value, they are yet to find support in evidences with higher legal weight as, for example, accounting registers, bank transfers, acts signed by the involved, phone interceptions, etc.
Judicially, Uribe has not enough evidence, so far at least, to carry out successfully this kind of legal process and it seems he does not even has clarity in the procedures to follow, which undermines the reliability of his acts, reduced to simple stunts.
Before making such statements, which he can hardly keep, he should have taken those hints as a starting point for a serious inquiry and, after holding more conclusive evidence, to make the denounce the right way.
Let’s wait the mention of the ICC does not pass from that and does not start a very hard cause to prove which, besides a judicial failure, might undermine his efforts against terrorism and its sponsors and moves away the diplomatic solutions eveyone is waiting for.
Please, find out about the issue first, President Uribe, and do not follow the example of your neighbour. Let’s leave him playing his clumsy role and you, the rational and serious one. Is it too much to ask?
Tags: Álvaro Uribe, Camilo Ospina, Colombia, Colombian politics, crimes against humanity, Ecuador, FARC, genocide, guerrilla, Hugo Chávez, International Criminal Court, international law, lawsuit, Raúl Reyes, terrorism, Venezuela, war crimes
saturday 8 march 2008, 19:21 COT
Alvaro Uribe is a lawyer, yet he has no idea whatsoever about international law or human rights. He hasn’t learnt much from the mistakes of his mentor George W Bush who did hard work to counterfeit documents showing Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Niger. Bush at the end was caught on that and many other lies. Uribe just waited 2 days to give evidential credibility to a laptop which at the end could’ve been planted by a foreign power. The US after all claims to have tampered with his satellite mobile phone, Why couldn’t have they done the same with his computer?
Alvaro Uribe will not succeed in any of his international moves; he has surrounded himself of people as inept as he is. His tactics of threats and insults that proved very successful at home to get things done are not going to achieve absolutely anything beyond Colombia’s abandoned borders.
saturday 8 march 2008, 20:06 COT
In my previous comment I forgot to mention that I was taliking about Raul Reyes laptop and satelite phone.