Received today from Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against the War (Canada)
Lawyers Against War has joined a criminal complaint filed in late November by the Center for Constitutional Rights in Germany against high-ranking U.S. officials.
The indictment charges Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and eleven others with war crimes and crimes against humanity contrary to Germany's Criminal Code of Crimes against International Law (CCAIL) and the United Nations Convention Against Torture, for the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
See Complaint Here
The CCAIL creates universal jurisdiction to prosecute suspected war criminals irrespective of their nationality or where they are located. The consent of the German Federal Prosecutor is required to open an investigation.
When he filed the charges in Berlin, Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner said: "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."
According to journalist Jennifer Van Bergen, J.D., a member of Lawyers Against the War : "War crimes and crimes against humanity are crimes recognized throughout the world and where a nation refuses to prosecute its own, the only recourse is universal jurisdiction exercised by other nations."
Please email, write, or call the German Chief Federal Prosecutor telling him that the prosecution must proceed against Rumsfeld. Please cite the file # 3 ARP 207/04-2. The name and address of the Federal Prosecutor in charge of the complaint is:
Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof
Brauerstraße 30
76137 Karlsruhe, Germany
Telefon: (0721) 81 91 0
Telefax: (0721) 81 91 59 0
eMail: poststelle@generalbundesanwalt.de
www.generalbundesanwalt.de
Or use the link for the letters of support on the CCR website.