“To allow Mugabe to attend the summit unimpeded would be a tragic
betrayal of the long suffering people of Zimbabwe. Torture is a crime
under international law and President Mugabe should be prosecuted
“Mugabe has massacred more black Africans than even the murderous
apartheid regime in South Africa. His tyrannical government is guilty
of detention without trial, torture, rape, extra-judicial killings,
media censorship, financial corruption, election fraud, mass
starvation and the violent suppression of strikes and protests.
“Portugal has a duty to enforce the UN Convention Against Torture
1984, which it has ratified and pledged to uphold.
“The Convention Against Torture has universal jurisdiction. It allows
any signatory state to arrest and put on trial any person who
authorises, commits or acquiesces in the infliction of torture
anywhere in the world.
“There is strong evidence from Amnesty International and other human
rights groups that President Mugabe has sanctioned and colluded with
acts of torture, contrary to international law.
“He should be arrested and put on trial, in the same way that
President Milosevic of Yugoslavia was tried in The Hague.
“Contrary to diplomatic convention and some controversial, disputed
legal rulings, Mugabe does not have absolute immunity from prosecution
as a serving Head of State.
“International human rights law and legal precedents have established
that Presidents can be indicted for gave crimes against humanity, such
as torture,” added Mr Tatchell.
See the article and detailed documentation below.
More information: Peter Tatchell 020 7403 1790
Note: Peter Tatchell will not be going to Lisbon for the EU-AU Summit.
Why Mugabe does not have immunity from prosecution for torture
By Peter Tatchell
International law increasingly no longer accepts the right of Heads of
State to enjoy absolute immunity for grave human rights abuses, such
as torture.
This legal evolution began with the Versailles Treaty of 1919. The
signatory nations accepted that Heads of State cannot plead they are
above the law when they stand accused of “offences against
international morality”. Article 227 of the Treaty set the precedent
in international law that Heads of State are not immune from
prosecution, when it arraigned the German Emperor, William II.
The 1946 Nuremberg Tribunal reiterated this precedent by ruling the
top Nazi leaders, including Karl Doenitz, Hitler’s successor as German
leader, did not enjoy immunity for crimes against humanity. Doenitz
was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years jail.
Principle Three of the Nuremberg Principles declared: “The fact that a
person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under
international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government
official does not relieve him from responsibility under international
law”.
For any country to renege on the Nuremberg Principles would be a
monstrous betrayal of the millions who perished in the Holocaust and
the millions more who sacrificed their lives to end the tyranny of the
Third Reich.
The Nuremberg ruling that government leaders can be held accountable
was reconfirmed with the enactment of the UN Convention Against
Torture (UNCAT) 1984. Article 4 requires each state party to ensure
that “all acts of torture” are criminal offences under domestic law.
This criminalisation must apply to an act by “any person” that
“constitutes complicity or participation in torture”. UNCAT grants no
exemptions to Heads of State.
These precedents were given further practical effect by the
International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia when it
indicted Slobodan Milosevic on 26 May 1999, while he was the serving
Head of State of Yugoslavia. If Milosevic can be indicted, even though
he was President at the time, why can’t Mugabe?
The UN Rome Statute of 1998, ratified by the EU member states, created
the International Criminal Court. Article 27 explicitly declar
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