Former U.S. President George W. Bush has cancelled a visit to Switzerland over fears he could have been arrested on torture charges.
Mr Bush was due to be the keynote speaker at a Jewish charity gala in Geneva on February 12.
But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the country.
Criminal complaints against Mr Bush alleging torture have been lodged


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354211/George-W-Bush-cancels-Switzerland-visit-fears-arrest-torture-charges.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354211/George-W-Bush-cancels-Switzerland-visit-fears-arrest-torture-charges.html

actually he has Immunity,and the Swiss Authorities knew that!
And they said as much!
Really don't know where you get the Idea from!

you had better be concerned with what is sitting in the White House now,instead with an Ex-President with a bagfull of Immunity!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/02/bush_not_at_risk_of_arrest_in.html

Posted at 6:40 PM ET, 02/ 8/2011
Bush not at risk of arrest in Europe, experts say
By Jeff Stein

European law enforcement officials and other experts say the chances of George W. Bush being arrested on war crimes charges in Switzerland--or anyplace else on the continent--are almost nil.

Headlines and assertions by human rights groups that the former president risked a “possible arrest warrant” if he traveled to Geneva to give a speech this weekend were overblown, those with direct experience in such matters said.

But Amnesty International insisted that “Anywhere in the world that he travels, President Bush could face investigation and potential prosecution for his responsibility for torture and other crimes in international law, particularly in any of the 147 countries that are party to the U.N. convention against torture."

"From a legal point of view, I believe it could be possible,” said Dick Marty, a Swiss prosecutor who led Council of Europe’s investigation into alleged illegal CIA secret prisons. “But I'm convinced that the political reality is that there are no chances for such a step."

Likewise, Armando Spataro, the Milan prosecutor who won kidnapping convictions against CIA agents involved in the 2003 rendition of an al Qaeda suspect, said an indictment of Bush was possible only “in theory.”

“According to our system, one (or more) of the following circumstances must be present to issue an arrest warrant,” Spataro said. “One, danger that a person could repeat the same serious crime; two, a danger he could became a fugitive; and three, a danger he could destroy or tamper with evidence.”

Because Bush is out of office and constitutionally prohibited from occupying the presidency again, the conditions for prosecuting him--in Italy, at least--are absent, Spataro suggested.

The most famous case of a head of state arrested on human rights charges came in March 2000, when former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was detained in London. He returned to Chile under indictment but died before a trial.

“What we have in Switzerland is a Pinochet opportunity,” Gavin Sullivan, a lawyer for one of the groups advocating for Bush’s arrest, was quoted as saying last weekend.

But John Dinges, author of "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents," pointed out that Bush had to be indicted somewhere before he could be arrested--which leaves him little cause for worry.

"Bush is in good company. There are more than 300 South American military officers who have Interpol extradition warrants,” said Dinges, who is also the Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism at Columbia University.

“The difference is that Bush has not been indicted anywhere--unlike most of the officers wanted in the human rights cases. Until that happens, I don't think this will change Bush's ability to travel.”

President George W. Bush has canceled an event in the famously neutral country Switzerland because of expected protests to his presence there. Bush was supposed to give the keynote address at a Jewish group’s charity gala on Feb. 12 in Geneva.

Leftist groups had planned to protest the visit, according to news agencies. But several human rights groups had also filed criminal complaints against Bush, demanding that he be taken into custody if he stepped on Swiss soil and investigated for allegations of ordering torture.

A right-wing member of the Swiss parliament also demanded last week Bush’s arrest on war crimes allegations if he came to the country, according to Reuters.

Swiss officials countered that, as a former head of state, Bush would be protected with a level of diplomatic immunity, and Keren Hayesod, the group that had invited Bush, said the court actions against the former president did not play into the decision to go forward with the dinner without him.

“We didn’t want to put people and property in Geneva at risk. The gala is maintained but George Bush will not take part,” the group’s lawyer, Robert Equey told the Tribune de Geneve. “The (criminal) complaints did not weigh in the decision.”

He noted protests against the G8 summit just across the border in France in 2003 that ended up rampaging through Geneva.

{The Hill/Matzav.com}

http://matzav.com/bush-cancels-switzerland-visit-under-threat-of-protests-efforts-to-arrest-him

Blair had to cancel a similar situation in Ireland sometime ago.

Both Bush and Blair plus their Employers "The Company" should be in front of International Criminal Court.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunity_from_prosecution_%28international_law%29

Immunity from prosecution is a doctrine of international law that allows an accused to avoid prosecution for criminal offences. Immunities are of two types. The first is functional immunity, or immunity ratione materiae. This is an immunity granted to people who perform certain functions of state. The second is personal immunity, or immunity ratione personae. This is an immunity granted to certain officials because of the office they hold, rather than in relation to the act they have committed.

This type of immunity arises from customary international law and treaty law and confers immunities on those performing acts of state (usually a foreign official). Any person who in performing an act of state commits a criminal offence is immune from prosecution. This is so even after the person ceases to perform acts of state. Thus it is a type of immunity limited in the acts to which it attaches (acts of state) but will only end if the state itself ceases to exist. This type of immunity is based on respect for sovereign equality and state dignity.

The offices usually recognised as attracting this immunity are Head of State or Head of Government, senior cabinet members, Foreign Minister, and Minister for Defence: see the Arrest Warrant Case, Pinochet Case (R v Bow Street Magistrates; ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No 3) 1 AC 147, House of Lords). Such officers are immune from prosecution for everything they do during their time in office. For example, an English court held that a warrant could not be issued for the arrest of Robert Mugabe on charges of international crimes on the basis that he was a presently serving Head of State at the time the proceedings were brought: Mugabe, reported at (2004) 53 ICLQ 789. Other examples are the attempts to prosecute Fidel Castro in Spain and Jiang Zemin in the USA.

For the past two years, former British prime minister Tony Blair has avoided arrests by citizens, despite campaigns such as this. The likes of Blair and Bush often travel with a large security escort (many attempted Blair arrests have been brushed off by these bodyguards), and the men are widely seen as untouchable.

The best that money can buy.

I wonder how long they will be able to escape justice?

Somewere some how some district attorney will file charges and make it a legal trial.

The facts and confessions are allready on record why are these clowns still walking free when they have caused the death and suffering of so many.

Not only walking free but making a fortune. Iraq in ruins and 1.3 million Iraqis murdered on a pack of lies....

Justice must be seen to be done

yeppers!
Not a leg to stand on y'all got!

MASSIVE HYPOCRACY from our governments and what have we gained nothing!

Well the 1% got richer and the rest of us got to pay more for gas, oh yea and then the price of food increased to cover the gas increase .........

Nope,no Arrest,and no Arrestwarrant issued either!

Blair is steering clear of UK and Ireland so he is not entirely a free man albeit a very rich one.

Sold his soul for X Millions.....sad ending to a man who could have reached great heights if he had done the right thing.

George Bush on the other hand had millions before he entered the white-house.

A former president should always be addressed as "President", "Former President" or "Mr President" out of respect.

1) L2BBCode

2) Conspiracy theories are so laughable.

If all you can do is say we must call them by a certain name which is completely irrelvent, and laugh at us, your argument must be pretty weak otherwise you'd debate us and prove us wrong. But you can't.

I feel no need to prove you wrong.

Sure are quick to put us down though aren't you?