The "Tribunal Movement" Holds Court in Istanbul

[bluestateboomer]

<http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062605Y.shtml#>
By Brendan Smith
t r u t h o u t | Report

Sunday 26 June 2005

Istanbul, Turkey - These are not your average court proceedings. One indication is that the famed novelist and Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy sits on the jury. She is joined by a professor of international law at Princeton, a member of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and an Indian judge.

Welcome to the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), which began Thursday in Istanbul, Turkey. This is where some of the world's most powerful leaders are on trial for war crimes in Iraq. But here, the defendants are not present (although American and British embassies in Japan, Brussels, and elsewhere were served summons for the appearance of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair), the Tribunal is composed of scholars, doctors, judges, former UN Staff, artists, and lawyers, and the proceedings are sanctioned by no government nor international institution.

Drawing on the tradition of Bertrand Russell's 1967 International War Crimes Tribunal on Vietnam, the WTI jury heard expert testimony from eminent lawyers and scholars on the application of international humanitarian law to US and British conduct in Iraq. The jury will also hear testimony from Iraqi victims of alleged American war crimes, including residents of Fallujah, survivors of carpet bombing, and victims of torture.

There have been twenty similar tribunals held in South Korea, Paris, Brussels, New York, and elsewhere around the world over the last three years. According to Professor Richard Falk, author of more than 30 books on international law, this "Tribunal movement" works "to reinforce the claims of international law by filling in the gaps where governments and even the United Nations are unable and unwilling to act, or even speak. When governments are silent, and fail to protect victims of aggression, tribunals of concerned citizens possess a law-making authority."