The November 14, 2006, criminal complaint is a request for the German Federal Prosecutor to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials for authorizing war crimes in the context of the so-called “War on Terror.”
The complaint is filed with much new evidence, new defendants and plaintiffs, a new German Federal Prosecutor and under new circumstances that include the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense and the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the U.S. granting officials retroactive immunity from prosecution for war crimes.
The complaint alleges that American military and civilian high-ranking officials named as defendants in the case have committed war crimes against detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the U.S.-controlled Guantánamo Bay prison camp.
The complaint alleges that the defendants “ordered” war crimes, “aided or abetted” war crimes, or “failed, as civilian superiors or military commanders, to prevent their commission by subordinates. The allegation is that the U.S. administration has treated hundreds if not thousands of detainees in a coercive manner.
The United States has refused to join the International Criminal Court, thereby foreclosing the option of pursuing a prosecution in international courts. German courts are seen as a last resort to obtain justice for those victims of abuse and torture while detained by the United States.
[Center for Constitutional Rights]
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