Mirsky, who is a senior fellow at the World Economy & International Relations Institute, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said to RIA Novosti in an interview that it would not be an overstatement to define Saddam as "the Iraqi people's hangman," but proving evidence for the court is another matter. The problem is that none of the available documents on genocide or war crimes bears his signature, the expert explained. But he said that he expected the former Iraqi leader to be severely punished nonetheless.
Mirsky drew a parallel between the trial over Saddam and the Nuremberg Tribunal. "At the Nuremberg tribunal, Hitler would have been sentenced to death by hanging although he personally had not taken part in tortures and executions. He would have been hung because his regime was recognized as criminal," he said. As the Russian expert predicts, a similar fate is in store for the former Iraqi dictator, whose regime will be recognized as criminal. He ruled out the possibility of the Saddam case being transferred to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. "The Iraqis will never agree to that: neither those who are demanding punishment for Saddam, nor the ones who would like to see him acquitted," he said. He believes that such a handover would be a tremendous humiliation for the Iraqi people.
On July 1, Saddam and eleven of his associates were charged by an Iraqi court with twelve counts of genocide and crimes against humanity. Each of them is also charged with military aggression against Iran in 1980 (Iranian officials are now preparing a Iran-Iraq War reparations claim (1980-1988)), the slaughter of 5,000 Kurds of the Barzani tribe, and the use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish community of Halabja, whichclaimed over 5,000 lives. The former Iraqi leaders are also facing criminal charges for their alleged involvement in the al Anfal operation targeting the Kurdish population of Iraq (80 rural Kurdish communities were totally destroyed in that campaign), in the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the violent suppression of popular riots in southern Iraq and in Kurdistan in 1991.
