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| |  | | Hervé Madeo | | | context : | Burma (Myanmar)  | | judgement place : | Belgium | | status : | Indicted | | particulars : | Charged in 2002 with complicity in crimes against humanity in Myanmar. Charged in Belgium in 2002 with illegal imprisonment during the construction of a pipeline; proceedings closed by the Cour de Cassation in June 2005; proceedings reopened after a ruling by the constitutional court in October 2007; preliminary court hearing expected at the end of October 2007 | | position : | Director of the TMEP (1992-1999), responsible for the management of a pipeline project in the region of Yadana, Myanmar. |
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| | | | On 25 June 2002 Hervé Madeo and Thierry Desmarest (see ‘ramifications’) were denounced in Brussels by four victims of human rights violations in Myanmar. They accuse Madeo with participating in crimes against humanity. The accusation was based on a legislative combination of the law on universal competence from 16 June 2003 and the law from 4 May on the liability of legal persons. Madeo is charged with complicity in crimes against humanity, perpetrated in Myanmar by military battalions who were in charge of the security of the pipeline project.
Diplomatic and economic pressure led the Belgian legislators to modify the law on universal competence from 1993 on 5 August 2003: all charges brought up in the past 10 years had now to be examined by the court of cassation, and only those charges that met the criteria of the new legislation were given further consideration.
On 5 May 2004, the court of cassation which examined the files on human rights abuses in Myanmar permitted the four plaintiffs’ to submit to the Cour d’Arbitrage the following preliminary question: is it not discriminating and therefore unconstitutional that an a refugee living in Belgium is denied a valid appeal to Belgian courts?
On 13 April 2005 the Cour d’Arbitrage answered this question in the affirmative: according to the 1951 refugee convention, a refugee has the same access to courts as a native citizen (Art. 16). Since one of the plaintiffs is a refugee, the case has to be handled in the same way as that of a Belgian citizen.
On 29 June 2005, however, the court of cassation revoked the Belgian courts’ competence in judging this matter, against the opinion of the Cour d’Arbitrage.
On 21 April 2006, the Cour d'Arbitrage annulled the judgement of 29 June 2005, following an appeal by the plaintiffs. Proceedings should thus be reopened.
On 1 October 2007, the federal prosecutor's office in Belgium re-opened the case, following a ruling by the country's constitutional court that the case was valid after all. A preliminary court hearing is expected at the end of October 2007. | |    | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | period of charges : | | | 01.01.1988 - 31.12.1996 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity | | | profile last modified : | | | 04.10.2007 |
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