Judicial process will be pursued vigorously
Judicial process will be pursued vigorouslyOn March 3, 2023, the Belgian Constitutional Court ruled that the Belgian government must inform the plaintiffs (Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, NCRI, and others) of its intention to transfer a convicted person to Iran, so that they can challenge the matter and have it reviewed by the court of first instance.
The Belgian Constitutional Court approved the five treaties ratified by the Belgian parliament last July, which the government of this country brought to the parliament in relation to India, the UAE, the Iranian regime and the Strasbourg protocol, but stated that the transfer of convicts should be carried out case by case under the control of the judicial system through the Court of First Instance and that the government cannot arbitrarily transfer the convicts.
The ruling of the Belgian court underscores that, although the country’s Council of State, the highest authority for dealing with government departments and the Belgian administrative system, has not considered itself competent to judge the decision of the ministries regarding the transfer of convicts in many cases, the Constitutional Court rejects that determination and rules that the Court of First Instance has the jurisdiction to judicially control the transfer of any convict.
The Court of First Instance has the authority to judge the implementation of the government’s decision on the transfer of convicts, but respecting the principle of separation of powers, it should limit its judicial control to monitoring the legality of this decision case by case.
According to the verdict of the Constitutional Court, the Belgian government is obliged to balance the interests of all parties (and in this case, specifically the NCRI) when deciding to transfer a convicted person.
The judgment of the Belgian Constitutional Court explicitly refers to Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is the basis of this court’s judgment. Article 13 stipulates, “Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in [the] Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity”.
The ruling of the Constitutional Court, referring to the European Convention on Human Rights, provides an effective solution to the decision to transfer convicts, which must ensure the right to life of the victims, which is guaranteed in the convention, for the victims of the actions of convicted terrorist diplomat. This solution is to refer to the Court of First Instant and in case of emergency, presiding judge of that Court.
Therefore, the Constitutional Court has clearly decided that the transfer of the clerical regime’s terrorist diplomat must be reviewed by the Court of First Instant again.
The NCRI’s Judiciary Committee requests the support and assistance of all compatriots abroad, especially the Iranian expatriates in Belgium, and will continue to pursue the legal process vigorously, which has been ongoing for eight months without interruption.
Compatriots are well aware that the murderer Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian are using all government resources and spending huge sums to repatriate their diplomat terrorist bomber and his three accomplices to Iran, so that in the next step by taking hostages, they would have a freer hand in terrorism and bombing.
