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Image header Agence Europe
Europe Daily Bulletin No. 8234
Contents Publication in full By article 11 / 48
THE DAY IN POLITICS / (eu) ep/afghanistan

Has US army committed war crimes?

Strasbourg, 17/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The preview of the film by British producer Jamie Doran on the presumed acts of violence on the part of US troops in Afghanistan was shown on Wednesday evening at the promises of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The documentary entitled "indications of the participation of US troops in torture and execution of prisoners in Afghanistan" is still being assembled and only excerpts were shown to MEPs and journalists present. The same excerpts had been viewed during the morning at the Bundestag in Berlin. They show several people who are supposedly eye witnesses to acts of torture and other war crimes and say they are willing to give evidence before an international tribunal. According to these witnesses, US soldiers carried out or took part in acts of torture and summary execution of Taliban prisoners and contributed to the disappearance of around 3,000 men in the region of Mazar-I-Sharif. Attending the projection, organised by the European United Left Group, was the lawyer and former president of Amnesty International of the United Kingdom, Andy McEntee, who called for an international inquiry to be opened on these accusations. The French president of the GUE/NGL group, Francis Wurtz, expressed views along the same lines, stressing it is also in the interest of the United States to pull itself clear of these accusations. "We are guided by just one objective: the search for truth; without a priori but also without taboo!", he added. On Friday, a Pentagon spokesman said the accusations were "unfounded".

 

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