1789 U.S. law allowed trial in Miami over torture in Chile 30 years ago

1789 U.S. law allowed trial in Miami over torture in Chile 30 years ago

By Ann W. O'Neill
Staff Writer
Posted October 13 2003

In a federal courtroom in Miami, jurors in the "Caravan of Death" case have been focusing for two weeks on the gruesome details of torture and execution, 30 years past and 4,100 miles away.

They have watched a videotaped exhumation of a mass grave in Chile, which turned up smashed skulls, broken bones and bloodstained clothing torn by knives and bullets. And, they have heard witnesses describe events so horrific that even now they have difficulty speaking of them.

The jurors begin deliberating Tuesday in a trial that is taking place because of a 214-year-old law, the Alien Tort Claims Act. Signed by the first U.S. Congress, it opened the federal courts to civil complaints by foreigners for abuses "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the U.S."

The law languished in obscurity until the 1980s, when human rights activists discovered they could use it to sue foreign dictators and military officials. In the 1990s, several multinational corporations also were sued under the law.

One of those cases, against Unocal, has brought the law under attack in a federal appeals court in California. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief in May, raising the argument that the law should be weakened because the courts have no business dabbling in foreign affairs. If the court sides with the Justice Department, it would make it more difficult to bring suits such as the Caravan of Death case. (snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctort07oct13,0,3024253.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

fathers thought when they enacted the constitution and laws. If the founding fathers didn't want the "courts involved in foreign policy", why would they enact such a law? But don't confuse the right wing with logic. It really causes them distress.

Exactly the same was done to the Belgian Genocide-law, wich was very similar in structure, because it threatened Sharon, b* and the cronies of this administration.

Just a thought.

Henry Kissinger would be in the pokey right now.

:D