Rumsfeld faces lawsuit in Germany for war crimes

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday November 14, 2006

Berlin- Human rights groups on Tuesday were filing a lawsuit in Germany calling for former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and other American officials to be investigated for war crimes. The groups charge that prisoners were tortured at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on the direct orders of Rumsfeld and other top members of US President George W Bush's government.

Washington says abuses documented in photos from Abu Ghraib of soldiers beating and assaulting Iraqi prisoners were one-off events perpetrated by rogue guards.

Germany has been chosen for the lawsuit because the country's legal system allows war crimes committed anywhere in the world - even if alleged perpetrators are non-Germans - to be tried by German courts.

The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of alleged US torture victims by 22 individuals and rights groups, including the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.

A key witness for the bid to put Rumsfeld and others on trial in Germany is the former commander of US prisons in Iraq, Brig. General Janis Karpinski, who alleges she was made a scapegoat for the Abu Ghraib scandal in order to protect senior officials.

A similar attempt to have Rumsfeld charged under German law in 2004 was rejected by the country's federal prosecutor.

Wolfgang Kaleck, a German lawyer who is filing the lawsuit, admits the present bid may again fail.

"You know, it could be that we again suffer a legal defeat. But we have at least made our message loud and clear: it was torture and it was ordered from the top," said Kaleck.

Kaleck adds that even if German courts decline to investigate Rumsfeld, the former US defence secretary will have to live with the insecurity that he could suddenly face legal problems in other countries like Spain or Sweden.

In addition to Rumsfeld those named in the lawsuit include former CIA Director George Tenet, Undersecretary of Defence for Intelligence Dr Stephen Cambone, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Major General Walter Wojdakoski, Major General Geoffrey Miller and Colonel Thomas Pappas.

Former chief White House counsel (and current US Attorney General) Alberto R Gonzales was also named along with former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, General Counsel of the Department of Defence William James Haynes II and Vice-Presidential Chief Counsel David S. Addington.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency