France summoned a former director of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Geoffrey Miller, to appear before court Thursday over the torture of French citizens detained at the camp.
The hearing, which will be held March 1, will be the closest any country has come to prosecuting Miller over illegal interrogation techniques.
One of the detained bringing the case, Nizar Sassi, told Liberation that he has already “gone through the mourning of anger” but hopes an arrest would “return (him) the dignity that they robbed (him) of there.”
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Miller is not expected to show up. An attorney representing alleged torture victims, William Bourdon, told France Info that U.S. officials have long employed "the politics of the empty chair" when facing European judges. He will continue pressing, however, until Miller is arrested for breaking international law.
Mourad Benchellali was detained in Guantanamo from 2001 to 2004. | Photo: AFP
Bourdon's clients, Sassi and Mourad Benchellali, have said they were arbitrarily detained in Pakistan in connection with the 9/11 attacks and subjected to the torture that Miller introduced to the Guantanamo prison.
Miller also presided over the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, taking over after disclosures exposed widespread abuse, and went to Guantanamo shortly after then-president George W. Bush approved of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” He exercised his right to remain silent at a U.S. court martial hearing over Abu Ghraib.
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Sassi and Menchellali claim they were victims of various forms of torture, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and humiliation. Since their release in 2005, France has unsuccessfully requested U.S. cooperation with investigations.
Miller, now retired – and recipient of the Distinguished Service Metal – has been accused of torture at both facilities several times. A 2005 report by the U.S. Air Force found Miller “failing to monitor and set limits on the implementation of authorized (interrogation) techniques” at Guantanamo. The next year, Germany filed a complaint against Miller for complicity in torture and crimes against humanity.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights published a report in 2014 that charged Abu Ghraib became a “center for torture research” under Miller’s command.