The Belgian news agency BELGA reports that the newly-inaugurated Belgian government has decided, after a comparative study of related legislation in other European countries, to pull the plug on the "genocide law" as we know it.
Under the new legislation, which will be integrated into the common Penal Code, ordinary civilians or organizations can only be plaintiffs in a "genocide" lawsuit if at least one of the accused is a Belgian citizen or resident. In other cases, if at least one of the victims was a Belgian citizen or resident (min. 3 years) at the time of the events, they can turn to the national Public Prosecutor, who decides as the sole and final authority whether or not (s)he will take the case.
An immunity clause will also be inserted, and all pending cases not involving Belgian citizens will be taken out of the court system.
There will be those who will decry the "caving in to Uncle Sam". However, its surprisingly far-reaching character may well have been the price tag for Verhofstadt's unwillingness to dump the Mother of All Pompous Asses as Foreign Minister. So the latter may have been good for something after all.
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