BRUSSELS, July 1: Belgium will consider closing a loophole which has prevented suspects accused of serious human rights crimes from being tried in absentia, after a case against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was thrown out.

However, even if the new bill is passed, Sharon is unlikely to be tried in a Belgian court while he remains in office, due to a previous International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling upholding immunity for serving ministers.

The ICJ decision would be binding for any cases in Belgium involving heads of state, heads of government or foreign ministers, legislators said.

A group of Belgian senators introduced the new bill to the upper house of parliament on Monday just five days after a Brussels appeals court threw out a suit against Sharon.

The court ruled that his absence from Belgium meant he could not be investigated over a 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Israeli-occupied Beirut.

“(The signatories of this proposition) propose...an interpretative law, clarifying that the alleged perpetrator does not have to be found in Belgium,” the draft bill reads.

Legal experts said the Sharon decision, which hung on a technicality, took the bite out of Belgium’s sweeping law which gave its courts the right to try foreign nationals accused of serious human rights violations wherever they were committed.

“Although the chronology might give the impression, it’s not targeted at Sharon. But after the ruling the whole law is under threat,” said Alain Destexhe, a French-speaking Liberal senator.

“What the judges decided last week has a direct impact on other cases. We want to save the other cases,” he added.

The Brussels public prosecutor’s office is now studying 25 complaints filed under Belgium’s human rights law. About half of those would benefit from the draft bill, Destexhe said.—Reuters