28 March 2012
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German court now dismissed the appeal against inadmissibility. In a historic effort to hold high-ranking US officials accountable for brutal acts of torture, in November 2004, the (CCR) and four Iraqi citizens filed a criminal complaint with the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office at the Karlsruhe Court. Under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, suspected war criminals may be prosecuted irrespective of where they are located. In February 2005, the Prosecutor refused to take the case on the grounds that they believed the US would investigate the matter. CCR appealed that decision. On 13 September 2005, Stuttgart's Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) dismissed the appeal against the decision of the Attorney General as inadmissible. The Higher Regional Court stated that the petition is inadmissible on the ground that the prosecutor has, according to §153 f Code of Criminal Procedure, an almost complete discretionary power to dismiss the complaint.
Full article and translated background information from the CCR:
Legal assessment of the complaint: Torture in Abu Ghraib. The Compliant against Donald Rumsfeld under the German Code against Crimes under International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch) Part I/II: http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=583, Part II/II: http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=584 (German Law Journal No 3, 1.3.2005)
German background documentation from the German lawyers' association REPUBLIKANISCHER ANWÄLTINNEN- UND ANWÄLTEVEREIN e.V. which lodged the complaint: http://www.rav.de/ag_voelkerrecht.htm
Filed 1 December 2005
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