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Artwork by Kevin Knoneck of the Roanoke Times & World-News. Copyright a 1989, Kevin Kreneck. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Britain Ties
The War's
Loose Ends
New legislation may allow
Britain to try war criminals
who have settled there. Some
wonder; however, whether those
accused can get a fair trial.
HELEN DAVIS
Foreign Correspondent
190
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989
he British government
is expected to enact
legislation in October
that will allow British courts
to try alleged Nazi war crim-
inals who found refuge in
Britain after the war.
The move follows the re-
cent publication of a report
by an official commission of
inquiry, headed by Britain's
former Director of Public
Prosecutions, Sir Thomas
Hetherington.
Members of the commis-
sion, who traveled the world
to investigate charges —
many made by the Los
Angeles-based Simon Wies-
enthal Center , found
"sufficient evidence to sup-
port criminal proceedings
for murder against some
persons living in the United
Kingdom."
Their report noted that
"their prosecution could act
as a deterrent to others in
future wars. To take no ac-
tion would taint [Britain]
with the slur of being a
haven for war criminals.
"The cases we in-
vestigated disclose horrific
instances of mass murders
and we do not consider the
lapse of time since the of-
fenses were committed, or
the age of the offenders,
provide sufficient reason for
taking no action."
The' 109-page report,
which took 17 months to
compile, added that because
of the age of both witnesses
and suspects, "proposed
legislation should be intro-
duced and brought into force
as quickly as possible."
Of the 300 names of war
crimes suspects submitted
to the inquiry, the commis-
sion investigated only a
sample and found there was
adequate evidence to launch
prosecutions against four,
one of whom died earlier this
year. The report recom-
mended that further inves-
tigation should be con-
ducted in 75 cases, and a
further 46 suspects should
be traced.
It said that Britain should
amend its law so that Brit-
ish courts, which currently
do not have jurisdiction over
crimes committed by non-
British citizens on foreign
territory, will be able to try
the suspects.
It also recommended pro-
cedural changes to judicial
hearings that would allow
'evidence to be taken by tele-
vision link from people liv-
ing outside Britain and that
would allow recorded state-
ments by witnesses who
have since died.
The war crimes under in-
vestigation mostly involve
cases of the mass-murder of
Jews allegedly perpetrated
in Germany or German-
occupied territory in East-
ern Europe, now under Sovi-
et control, by men who have
since settled in Britain.
Thousands of East Euro-
pean refugees were encour-
aged to settle in Britain im-
mediately after the war to
ease the critical labor short-
age. Virtually no attempt
was made at the time to in-
vestigate their wartime
history.
The commission took into
account the experiences of
Canada and Australia which
have both recently insti-
tuted changes to make pos-
sible the prosecution of war
crimes suspects who settled
in their countries.
It did not, however, rec-
ommend following their ex-
ample by creating a special
unit of lawyers, historians
and- police to conduct the
prosecutions. Instead, it
recommended that substan-
tial additional resources be
provided to existing au-
thorities and that legal aid
be provided for defendants.
British Home Secretary
Douglas Hurd, who ordered
the investigation, is known
to personally favor accep-
ting the report, but he an-
nounced last week that he
would defer his decision on
introducing the necessary
legislation until parliament
had had an opportunity to
debate the matter.
Given the strength of the
report and the support of
the Home Secretary, howev-
er, it is considered virtually
certain that steps will be
taken to change the law and
start the process of bringing
the suspects to trial.
Addressing the Commons,
Britain's lower House of
Parliament, last week, Hurd
discounted the suggestion
that the war crimes suspects
should be extradited to the
Soviet Union.
The inquiry, he said, had
dealt with allegations of
horrific killings on 'a very
large scale: "The allegations
are not about actions com-
mitted in the heat of war,"
he said. "They concern in-
dividuals allegedly holding
quite senior positions...
whose task was the system-
atic murder of civilians."
It was quickly clear that
opposition to a change in the
law would be forcefully
argued. According to one
parliamentarian, Ivan Stan-
brook, it would be "a tragic
mistake" to institute war
crimes trials in Britain now.
The effect of such action
would be "to stir up emo-
tions of hatred and re-
venge."
"How," he asked, "will it
be possible for those few
men to get a fair trial when a
law will be passed especially
to frame them, when the ev-
idence will be almost 50
years old, and when it will be
impossible for them to go to
the Soviet Union to find
witnesses and evidence that
might clear them?"
Indeed, the debate over
bringing old men to trial for
crimes committed more than
40 years ago is bound to ex-
tend beyond the ancient
walls of the British parlia-
ment and is expected to
evoke passionate emotions.
Vigorous lobbying of legis-
lators, which is expected to
continue throughout the