Former Minister Vande Lanotte now works for the Van Steenbrugge Advocaten law firm. On its behalf and together with the association “Turkey Tribunal” and with “Medel”, a European legal representative association, he filed a lawsuit against Turkey at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The lawsuit alleges that the Erdogan government is guilty of crimes against humanity.
Crimes committed in 45 countries?
More than 200,000 people in Turkey have been victims of torture, disappearance, detention or conviction without legal representation since this government took office, according to the lawsuit. This happened not only in Turkey itself, but in a total of 45 countries, including Belgium, which fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC. This circumstance is very important for the lawsuit, because Turkey has not ratified the Rome Treaties on the International Criminal Court.
1,300 detailed testimonies
Johan Vande Lanotte’s Law Office has recorded and collected a total of 1,300 detailed testimonies from victims of the Turkish regime who can testify before the ICC. A 4,000-page indictment was sent to the office of Chief Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan, a British citizen, which Van Steenbrugge Advocaten says deal with “systematic attacks against civilians and doing so to the benefit of government policy”. This is where the ICC has authority.
These offenses are sufficiently serious and “can be regarded as willful disregard for the basic principles of the international legal order,” the indictment said.
Who is responsible?
Who exactly is to be held responsible for these crimes, President Erdogan or others, is deliberately not specified in the lawsuit, Johan Vande Lanotte told the Belgian media: “This is an exclusive responsibility of the prosecutor.” But it could be that high According to the former Belgian minister, officials from NATO partner Turkey, who come from the administration or from politics, for example, are involved.
Diplomatic consequences for Belgium?
Whether Belgium has to fear negative diplomatic consequences in relations with Turkey as a result of the lawsuit brought by a Belgian law firm for which a former minister works is an open question.
Professor Marc Bossuyt from the Turkey Tribunal association believes that this lawsuit should not be seen as hostile action against Turkey or as support for the coup that was foiled a few years ago: “This is support for those who suffer grave violations of human rights.”
This is also underlined by Johan Vande Lanotte, in which he says that this lawsuit is not being brought by the Belgian state, but by a law firm.
