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Dutchman linked to Iraq genocide faces
15-year jail term
8.12.2005
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THE HAGUE, Dec 7
(AFP) - 22h17 - The Dutch state prosecutor requested
a 15-year-jail sentence Wednesday for chemicals
trader Frans van Anraat who is on trial here on
genocide charges for supplying ingredients used by
Saddam Hussein in poison gas attacks.
"The accused provided chemical products which
allowed acts committed with the intention of
destroying a group or a part of that group," special
war crimes prosecutor Fred Teeven told the court.
"He knew the finality of these products and the
genocidal intention of his customers."
Van Anraat, 63, is accused of aiding genocide and
war crimes for supplying key ingredients for the
production of nerve gas to Iraq between 1984 and
1988.
Prosecutors say nerve gas produced with the
chemicals van Anraat sold to Iraq were used in
several massacres of Kurds in Iran and Iraq.
He is the first person to appear in court on
genocide charges over the 1988 poison gas attacks on
the Kurdish town of Halabja in northern Iraq.
The massacre, which killed more than 5,000 people in
a single day, also features among the preliminary
charges against the former Iraqi dictator, who is
currently on trial in Baghdad.
Van Anraat does not deny selling the chemical
components to Iraq, but maintains that he was not
aware of their final use. |
Frans Van Anraat
Photo: Internet
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP |
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"The accused says that if he had known the purpose
of these products he would not have sold them ... He
could not not have known that they would be used to
produce mustard gas. He had contacts at the highest
level with the Iraqi authorities," the prosecutor
said.
Fifteen Kurdish victims from Iraq and Iran have
joined the criminal trial as civil parties and are
asking for the symbolic amount of 680 eurosdollars)
in damages each.
"Years later, the victims that have come to testify
are still suffering from these atrocities. But how
can all the other victims continue living? Van
Anraat does not seem to show any regret," the
prosecutor said.
The trial is in its final week, with a verdict
expected on December 23.
AFP
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