Sharon hearings begin in Belgium

The court will hear allegations against Sharon relating to a massacre in 1982

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - A Belgian court heard arguments on Wednesday over whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

The investigation against Sharon followed a complaint lodged by 23 Palestinians. Belgium is the only country which allows its courts to prosecute anyone in the world for war crimes, wherever they were committed.

Wednesday's hearing came a day after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat became the latest international figure to face a complaint in a Brussels court for crimes against humanity.

After the first session of the Sharon hearing on Wednesday, court spokesman Guy Delvoie told The Associated Press that a decision was likely at the end of January.

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Public prosecutor Pierre Morlet argued a Belgian court could take on such a case despite the objections of Sharon's lawyers.

Irit Kohn, head of Israel's legal team at the court, told AP: "To make Israel responsible is not justice. We feel the complaints are hurting our sovereignty."

On Tuesday, lawyers representing 33 Israelis and Belgians accused Arafat of initiating terrorist attacks.

The court is already considering complaints against a string of other past and present world leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Magistrate Patrick Collignon opened his inquiry into Sharon in July after finding that two complaints filed against the Israeli leader for his alleged role in the killings of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Chatilla camps in Lebanon in 1982 warranted investigation.

On January 23, lawyers for Sharon and survivors of the killings in the two camps will be able to make their case again. A decision of the appeals court is expected shortly afterwards.

If the appeals court decides to accept the case, Collignon will be able to continue his investigation. That would start legal proceedings that could take years.

In the first case to be tried under the law, four Rwandans were sentenced in June to between 12 and 20 years imprisonment for their role in the 1994 genocide of the country's Tutsi ethnic minority. The judgment came seven years after complaints were first filed.

Sharon was Israeli defence minister in 1982 when 800 Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps south of Beirut were slaughtered by a Lebanese Christian militia allied to the Israelis.

Survivors of the massacre lodged a complaint with a Belgian judge in June demanding Sharon's indictment.

Israeli inquiries into the massacre found Sharon indirectly responsible and he had to resign as defence minister.

If the Belgian judge decides to press charges, Sharon could technically be arrested if he enters Belgium.

A 1993 Belgian law that gives local courts jurisdiction over violations of the Geneva war crimes convention allows claimants to seek cases against foreigners suspected of war crimes no matter where they happened.