From: Angelet Nicolas [mailto:n.angelet@liedekerke.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 3:29 PM
To: Marlene Mazel; HIRSCH Mich?le
Cc: 'Secretariat MH'; FW-ShoshiR; Vered Shpilman; Talya Schein; Van den Bossche Maria-Clara; 'Emmanuelle DEBOUVERIE'
Subject: Call : 10 min late. Dial-in number?

Dear Michelle and Nicolas,

 

Thank you for the call Yesterday.

We are looking forward for our next call tomorrow at 14:30 Belgium time – to hear about Michelle's meeting with the prosecutor.

Regarding the Memorandum and the legal search we asked for – as I explained, we are under a lot of pressure to complete our research. If you could Please work on it and send it to us by Monday Morning (the 15^th) so that we will be able to review it and we could talk about it on the 16^th via video conference – that would be highly appreciated.

 

Best,

Marlene

 

 

 

Dear Michelle and Nicolas,

 

We would want to have a call before Michelle's  meeting with the prosecutor to raise a few points that we would like Michelle to raise with the prosecutor and to discuss the various issues we raised in our email on documents we would like you to prepare on an expedited basis. As I understand from you email you have started to discuss/work on the matters we raised.

 

We suggest to schedule a phone call  next week on May 1 (in the morning Israel time), May 3^rd or 4^th (after 11 and before 3pm Israel time)  and then  a video call on May 16^th (in the morning 10 am Israel time) to relay our comments on the prepared memoranda and discuss steps for moving forward.  Please let us know which one of these times for the first call works best for you and confirm the May 16^th time.

 

Best,

Marlene

 

 

Dear Ms Mazel,

 

I have discussed the dates for the video conference with Me Hirsch as announced.

 

Federal Prosecutor Meire is not available for a meeting with Me Hirsch before 10 May. Accordingly, it makes little sense, in our view, to have a video conference on 8 or 9 May.

 

Further, Me Hirsch will be in court on 15 May, but she would be available on 16 May – and so would I – if this is convenient for you.

 

In the meantime, I will have met with Me Hirsch to discuss the various issues mentioned in your email.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Nicolas Angelet  

 

 

Dear Michelle and Nicolas,

We held an inter-governmental meeting regarding what steps need to be taken to proceed with this matter and would apprecaite your assistance and advice on several issues:

 

(1)    What, if any, complaints that have been filed in Belgium on the basis of universal jurisdiction since the passage of the most recent amendments to Belgium's universal jurisdiction law been dismissed? Are these decisions generally made public?

(2)    Have any of the complaints filed on the basis of universal jurisdiction (or regarding crimes abroad) been dismissed on the basis of paragraph (4) of the law?

(3)    Have any decisions of the prosecutor/magistrate not to proceed with a case been the subject of an appeal – either criminal and or constitutional? What were the facts and decisions in these cases?

(4)    Have the Belgian courts issued decisions on the issue of immunity of foreign officials from criminal jurisdiction?

 

Background Memoranda - Meeting the Criteria of the Fourth Element of the Law

 

(1)    As you recall, in prior cases you recommended that we relate to the fact that the ongoing cooperative bilateral relationship between Israel and Belgium reflects that the Belgian government and law respects the Israeli legal system, its independence and ability to handle matters such as these.   We had relayed information on this point in a background memorandum to you, and you had included a brief paragraph on this point to the prosecutor(paragraph 2.3.1) in 2010.

 

We would like you to draft a more extensive memoranda with a working translated draft in English on these issues. Some of our suggestions for topics are:

 

a)      The cooperative relationship between Israel and Belgium (focusing on extradition/MLATs between our two countries – we will send you a list of ongoing and incoming extradition cases with Belgium). Our extradition department will be relaying to us all of the examples of incoming and outgoing extradition, and we will relay these cases to you.

b)      Other treaties which may be relevant to a decision in this matter. We will relay the list of bilateral treaties to you.

c)       Additional decisions of Belgian and foreign courts noting the independence and ability of the Israeli legal system and courts. Can you research Belgian case law to see if you find any cases with positive comments regarding Israel and Israel's legal system? Perhaps some case law can be found in the context of refugees seeking asylum and the principle of non-refoulement.

d)      Statements of Belgian courts and leaders noting positive views regarding Israel and Israel's legal system.

 

We would also be interested in your views regarding additional points and or arguments which can be relayed to the prosecutor in this regard- and if after review of the prior memoranda if there are additional arguments which have not been raised. We would like a comprehensive document which is more extensive on the points raised above, includes the points already raised, and any new arguments we may have missed. We would like the initial draft on May 14^th.

 

Follow up meeting with Meire

 

Please let us know when you have the meeting scheduled with the federal prosecutor Meire, as we would like to brief you before the meeting.

 

Video Conference Call

With regard to moving forward, we thought it would be more efficient for the initial stage of our work on this project to hold a video conference on May 15^th at  13:30, Israel time.  The call will be attended by us, the MFA attorney and the attorney of the IDF.  If possible we would prefer to have this video conference to next week – can you let us know if you have alternate times available, perhaps at May 8^th or May 9^th in the morning. Let us know if you are able to find an alternate time.

 

Please feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Warm regards,

Marlene

 

Marlene Mazel Director Foreign& Counter-Terrorism Litigation Department

Department of the Deputy Attorney General (international Law)

Ministry of Justice State of Israel

Office: + 972 (0)3 763 4276 | Cell: +972 (0)50 621 7692

Fax: +972 (0)2 646 7799

 

marlenem@justice.gov.il

 

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