Gaddafi Dead: Family to File War Crimes Complaint
The Gaddafi family lawyer has announced that the relatives of the late “king of kings” will file a lawsuit against NATO at the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes.
The family of the slain leader plans on filing the lawsuit as they believe that NATO’s actions ultimately led to the death of the former “king of kings.”
The Gaddafi family lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi, was quoted as saying, “NATO helicopters opened fire on (Gaddafi’s) convoy. This convoy did not pose any threat to civilians.”
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Ceccaldi added, “It was an operation to eliminate the Libyan leader planned by the North Atlantic alliance.”
Ceccaldi told French media agencies that Gaddafi was protected under the Geneva Conventions and that the ICC’s Rome statue defines his killing as a war crime.
Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council has maintained that the death of Gaddafi was “unintentional.”
One member told CNN last week, “It would have been better for us Libyans, and the whole universe, to capture him and take him to a court and see how a dictator, a bad guy, who killed lots of Libyans and non-Libyan’s be judged in front of a court.”
However, with gruesome video footage of a bloodied and beaten Gaddafi having made international headlines and shocked the world, the UN and leaders in the international community called for a full investigation into the death of the former leader.
The NTC postponed the burial of the 69-year-old Gaddafi to allow a full investigation into his death and ultimately buried him on Tuesday in an undisclosed location.
Libya’s ruling party announced today that they plan to put the killers of Gaddafi on trial.
NTC vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga said, “Whoever is responsible for that (Gaddafi’s killing) will be judged and given a fair trial.”
Ghoga also said, “I am sure that was an individual act an not an act of revolutionaries or the national army.”
In the Geneva Conventions prisoners of war are the responsibility of the state and must be treated humanely, with their medical needs met.
Thus, to find an individual, as opposed to the military group that handled Gaddafi following capture, accountable for the death of the former leader would likely enable the NTC and its rebel fighters to avoid staining their international image by being labeled as war criminals.
