Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: Prof.Paul Wilkinson of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism says it is essential for Europe's credibility that Ocalan be brought to trial.

"  Professor Paul Wilkinson of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism at St
Andrews University, says it is essential for Europe's credibility that Mr
Ocalan be brought to trial. 
""If the European countries are not prepared to take the basic steps to
bring those accused of very serious terrorist crimes to court, then the
rhetoric of European conventions and statements about terrorism is
virtually meaningless,"" Professor Wilkinson says.  "
Saturday, November 28, 1998 Published at 01:06 GMT 
World: Europe
Obstacles to an Ocalan trial 
By the BBC's Pam O'Toole 
Italy and Germany have called for action to ensure that Abdullah Ocalan,
leader of Turkey's Kurdish separatist group, the PKK, faces trial in an
international court or tribunal. 
Bonn - which has an extradition warrant out on the rebel leader - now says
it does not want him tried in Germany for fear of provoking trouble between
its large Kurdish and Turkish communities. 
Turkey wants to put him on trial, of course, but the Italian constitution
prevents Rome from extraditing Mr Ocalan there, as Ankara still has the
death penalty. 
Over recent weeks there have been an increasing number of calls for Mr
Ocalan, who is wanted on charges of murder and terrorism, to be brought to
justice. 
The United States is also thought to be in favour of the idea of taking Mr
Ocalan to some kind of international court or tribunal, but neither the US,
nor Italy or Germany have yet come up with any detailed proposals. 
<Picture><Picture>Professor Paul Wilkinson: "Some way must be
found."Professor Paul Wilkinson of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism at
St Andrews University, says it is essential for Europe's credibility that
Mr Ocalan be brought to trial. 
"If the European countries are not prepared to take the basic steps to
bring those accused of very serious terrorist crimes to court, then the
rhetoric of European conventions and statements about terrorism is
virtually meaningless," Professor Wilkinson says. 
No court to try Ocalan 
One international court that is already dealing with similar crimes is the
International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, but according to Professor
Wilkinson, it is not an appropriate body to hear Mr Ocalan's case. 
He says the tribunal is charged with dealing with crimes committed in full
scale wars, rather than low intensity conflicts or terrorist actions. 
Proposals to include terrorist acts in the work of the proposed permanent
new International Criminal Court were also dropped earlier this year,
because of lack of support. 
Professor Wilkinson says that only a custom-built court - of the kind that
was envisaged to try the Lockerbie suspects - could deal with the special
case of Mr Ocalan quickly. 
"If one is talking about creating a permanent court to deal with this, a
kind of court that is complementary to the proposed International Criminal
Court, then you're talking about quite a long term project and there is no
sign of that emerging at present." 
In the end, arranging an international trial for Mr Ocalan may well depend
on co-operation from other western European countries. 
And many of them may be reluctant to become involved for fear of provoking
unrest within their own Turkish and Kurdish minorities. 


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