[News] Culpability of U.S. Officials in Abu Ghraib Torture

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Center For Constitutional Rights Seeks Criminal Investigation in Germany 
into Culpability of U.S. Officials in Abu Ghraib Torture
German Prosecutor Asked to Meet Obligations under Law Requiring 
Investigation into Torture and War Crimes. Doctrine of Universal 
Jurisdiction Permits Prosecution of Suspected War Criminals Wherever They 
May Be Found
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=TCRlT9TuSb&Content=471

Synopsis

In a historic effort to hold high-ranking U.S. officials accountable for 
brutal acts of torture including the widely publicized abuses carried out 
at Abu Ghraib, on Tuesday November 30, 2004, the Center for Constitutional 
Rights (CCR) and four Iraqi citizens filed a criminal complaint with the 
German Federal Prosecutor’s Office at the Karlsruhe Court, Karlsruhe, 
Germany.  Under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, suspected war 
criminals may be prosecuted irrespective of where they are located.


The four Iraqis were victims of gruesome crimes including severe beatings, 
sleep and food deprivation, hooding and sexual abuse.  (Further details of 
the treatment of the complainants are attached.)

CCR President Michael Ratner, who traveled to Berlin to file the complaint, 
said “From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in 
charge of Iraq policy must be investigated and held accountable. It is 
shameful that the United States of America, a nation that purports to set 
moral and legal standards for  world, refuses to seriously investigate the 
role of those at the top of the chain of command in these horrible 
crimes.”  “Indeed,” Ratner added “the existence of ‘torture memos’ drafted 
by administration officials and the authorization of techniques that 
violated humanitarian law by Secretary Rumsfeld, Lt. General Sanchez and 
others  make clear that responsibility for Abu Ghraib and other violations 
of law reaches all the way to the top.”

The U.S. officials charged include Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 
Former CIA Director George Tenet, Undersecretary of Defense for 
Intelligence Dr. Stephen Cambone, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Major 
General Walter Wojdakowski, Major General Geoffrey Miller, Brigadier 
General Janis L. Karpinski, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry L. Phillabaum, Colonel 
Thomas Pappas, and Lieutenant Colonel Stephen L. Jordan.

The criminal complaint was brought under the German Code of Crimes against 
International Law (CCIL) and seeks an investigation into war crimes 
allegedly carried out by high ranking United States civilian and military 
officials, including the incidents which occurred in Iraq.

[Please join our effort!   The German Prosecutor has discretion to decide 
whether to initiate an investigation.  It is critical that he hear from you 
so he knows that people around the world support this effort.Send a letter 
<http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/whatsnew/action/actionAlert2.asp>here]

CCR is represented in Germany by Wolfgang Kaleck, a Berlin-based lawyer who 
has been involved in similar efforts on behalf of victims of the Argentine 
“dirty war.”

The charges include violations of the German Code, “War Crimes against 
Persons,” which outlaws killing, torture, cruel and inhumane treatment, 
sexual coercion and forcible transfers.  The Code makes criminally 
responsible those who carry out the above acts as well as those who induce, 
condone or order the acts. It also makes commanders liable, whether 
civilian or military, who fail to prevent their subordinates from 
committing such acts.

The German Code of Crimes against International Law grants German Courts 
what is called Universal Jurisdiction for the above-described crimes. 
Article 1, Part 1, Section 1 states: "This Act shall apply to all criminal 
offenses against international law designated under this Act, to serious 
criminal offences designated therein even when the offence was committed 
abroad and bears no relation to Germany.” This means that those who commit 
such crimes can be prosecuted wherever found: they, like pirates of old, 
are considered enemies of all humankind.

The German CCIL places a prosecuting duty on the German prosecutor for all 
crimes that constitute violations of the CCIL, irrespective of the location 
of the person, the crime, or the nationality of the persons involved. 
Complaints can be filed with the German prosecutor to seek an investigation 
of specific crimes, as was done here.  While outside parties can bring 
complaints to the attention of a prosecutor in the U.S., there is no duty 
to prosecute such complaints and they do not become part of an official 
court procedure. In Germany, the prosecutor is under a duty to determine if 
an investigation and indictments are warranted; if he fails to do so, the 
complainants can appeal to the court.

According to CCR lawyers, in this case there are particularly compelling 
reasons the prosecutor should exercise his duty. Three of the defendants 
are present in Germany: Lt. General Sanchez and Major General Wodjakoski 
are stationed in Heidelberg, and Colonel Pappas is in Wiesbaden. Others, 
such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, often travel to Germany. In 
addition, the military units that engaged in the illegal conduct are 
stationed in Germany.  Although such links to Germany are unnecessary for 
the prosecutor to fulfill his duty, when the alleged perpetrators are 
actually on German soil the duty to investigate is even stronger. Their 
presence in Germany gives the prosecutor an important avenue to investigate 
these cases. Last, since the complainants are also victims, this places an 
additional duty on the prosecutor to investigate.

  “We view Germany as a court of last resort,” said CCR Vice President 
Peter Weiss, “We file these cases here because there is simply no other 
place to go.  It is clear that the U.S. government is not willing to open 
an investigation into these allegations against these officials.”  Weiss 
also pointed out that Congress has failed to seriously investigate the 
abuses and none of the various commissions appointed by the military and 
the Bush administration has been willing to look unflinchingly up the chain 
of command to consider what criminal responsibility lies with the military 
and political leadership. Instead, they asserted that the abuses and 
torture were the exclusive responsibility of rogue lower-level military 
personnel.

There are no international courts or courts in Iraq that can carry out 
investigations and prosecutions of the U.S. role, either: the United States 
has refused to join the International Criminal Court, thereby foreclosing 
the option of pursuing a prosecution in international courts; Iraq has no 
authority to prosecute; and the U.S. gave immunity to all its personnel in 
Iraq from Iraqi prosecution. Says Weiss, “We are doing what is necessary 
and expected when other systems of justice have failed: we are asking the 
German prosecutors, who have available one of the most advanced universal 
jurisdiction laws in the world, to begin an investigation that is required 
under its law.”



Call on the German Federal Prosecutor to Investigate Rumsfeld and Other 
U.S. Officials for War Crimes at Abu Ghraib

The Center for Constitutional Rights and four Iraqis who were tortured in 
U.S. custody have filed a complaint with the German Federal Prosecutor’s 
Office against high ranking United States civilian and military commanders 
over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere in Iraq.

We are asking the German prosecutor to launch an investigation: since the 
U.S. government is unwilling to open an independent investigation into the 
responsibility of these officials for war crimes, and since the U.S. has 
refused to join the International Criminal Court, CCR and the Iraqi victims 
have brought this complaint in Germany as a court of last resort. Several 
of the defendants are stationed in Germany.

Defendants include Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, former CIA 
Director George Tenet, Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez, Major-General Walter 
Wojdakowski, Brig.-General Janis Karpinski, Lt.-Colonel Jerry L. 
Phillabaum, Colonel Thomas M. Pappas, Lt.-Colonel Stephen L. Jordan, 
Major-General Geoffrey Miller, and Undersecretary of Defense for 
Intelligence Stephen Cambone.

German law allows German courts to prosecute for killing, torture, cruel 
and inhumane treatment, forcible transfers and sexual coercion such as 
occurred at Abu Ghraib. The world has seen the photographs and read the 
leaked “torture memos” – we are doing what is necessary when other systems 
of justice have failed and seeking to hold officials up the chain of 
command responsible for the shameful abuses that occurred.

Please join our effort! The German Prosecutor has discretion to decide 
whether to initiate an investigation. It is critical that he hear from you 
so he knows that people around the world support this effort.

Sample letter:
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/whatsnew/action/actionAlert2.asp


I am writing to express my support for the criminal complaint filed against 
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, et al., by the Center for 
Constitutional Rights, represented by Wolfgang Kaleck of Berlin, on 
November 30, 2004. I kindly request that you begin the investigations 
regarding the incidents at Abu Ghraib and others, unless the United States 
itself begins an independent investigation of the high-ranking officials 
and members of the military responsible for these war crimes. Because the 
U.S. is failing to fully investigate, and because the U.S. is not a member 
of the International Criminal Court, there is no other forum to turn to in 
seeking justice and accountability.


Sincerely yours,


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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