";s:4:"text";s:4599:"By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Following the judgment, and under pressure from states that threatened to prohibit official travel to Belgium, the Belgian government modified the legislation.
Secondly, the courts place excessive restrictions on compensation in Article 32 and Article 226 cases -- restrictions that would not exist in tort suits. In the case of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and the crime of torture, international treaties make prosecution not only a right but a duty. The Constitution does not directly grant official immunity; however, it has been interpreted and applied to allow Parliament to fashion de facto official immunity through legislative enactments.
It would also entail prohibiting any law, which gives public officials de jure, or de facto immunity from civil or criminal suits that involve alleged human rights violations. The victorious allies at the close of World War II were more successful, establishing by treaty the tribunal at Nürnberg that judged “the major war criminals of the European Axis.” In all, some 22 leading Nazis were tried by a court composed of eight judges (four judges rendered the verdicts, and four served as alternates), two each from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. Under the current system, Government personnel have the privilege of "official immunity" -- effectively protecting them from criminal prosecution or civil suit -- even if they commit serious human rights abuses. Thirdly, compensation awards in Article 32 and Article 226 cases have been handed down arbitrarily -- not only including different awards for the same harm, but also including awards that serve goals unrelated to injuries incurred in the case. Although a head of state may benefit from immunity under national law, he cannot invoke this defense in the case of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The Law Commission of India (LCI) has recommended that the government''s sanction should not be required if a prima facie case is established in an inquiry conducted by a sessions judge. He may, however, plead immunity from prosecution by other states for crimes committed while he was in office, as long as they were not committed in a private context. Although a head of state may benefit from immunity under national law, he cannot invoke this defense in the case of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Although the Supreme Court has announced that compensation is allowed in Article 32 and Article 226 cases, this is inadequate to meeting the requirements of justice and international human rights standards.
And, in terms of sovereign immunity, the LCI has recommended that a law be enacted "to restrict the application of the doctrine of immunity in such a way that the liability of the State becomes the rule and sovereign immunity the exception". They have also limited its application to a relatively exceptional class of cases as a matter of principle. He may, however, plead immunity from prosecution by other states for crimes committed while he was in office, as long as they were not committed in a private context.