Belgian lawmakers approve changes to war crimes law

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Belgium's lower house approved a revision of a war crimes law Tuesday, removing provisions that were used to file complaints against President Bush over the Iraq war.

Current law allows Belgium to prosecute wars crimes suspects regardless of where the alleged offenses occurred or the nationality of those involved.

After it was used to lodge complaints against Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in connection with the war in Iraq, U.S. officials protested strongly and threatened to move NATO headquarters out of Belgium unless the law was scrapped.

Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's government has worked to revise the measure, hoping to have the new law in place by the weekend.

The Chamber of Representatives approved the measure 89-3, paving the way for expected quick adoption by the Senate later this week and then enactment.

The revision limits jurisdiction to cases involving Belgian citizens or residents as victims or suspects. The revision also ensures the full immunity for world leaders and officials who visit Belgium.

"We are a small country, we cannot act as an international judge in these cases," said Liberal-Democrat Stef Goris, who introduced the bill during the debate. "These reforms will bring a much more workable law," he said.

U.S. officials say they are waiting for the final text before deciding if the new law satisfies their concerns.

"There was American pressure, but there were also other pressure or friendly warnings from France and Germany suggesting that if Brussels was to be home to international organizations or meetings, that this law could be problematic," socialist Dirk Van der Maelen, deputy head of the parliament's foreign affairs committee said.

Even opposition parties agreed that the law needed to be scrapped.

"We have made our country a joke on the world stage with this law as is," said Christian Democrat Pieter De Crem.

Brussels, which is headquarters to the European Union and the NATO alliance, receives thousands of diplomats, ministers and leaders a year, to attend various meetings, summits or conferences.

Cases against Bush, Blair and U.S. Iraq war commander Gen. Tommy Franks have already been rejected by Belgian authorities, using earlier amendments to the old law.

So was a case against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which was thrown earlier this year by the Belgian Supreme Court.

But some 29 earlier cases against former and present leaders, including Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuba's Fidel Castro are still active, officials said.

So is a complaint filed against former President Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in March. That case alleges the two were responsible for the 1991 Gulf War bombing of a shelter in Baghdad, which killed 403 people, including 52 children and 261 women. U.S. aircraft attacked the shelter, believing it was a command center.