PRESIDENTIAL TRIALS
 
Two Presidential trials got going again today. In Paris, former President Jacques Chirac is accused of paying members of his political party for non-existent municipal jobs when he was mayor of the city before he became president. The accusations have been around for a long time, but Mr. Chirac claimed immunity from prosecution while in the Presidential office from 1995 to 2007. Meanwhile, in Cairo former President Hosni Mubarak is accused of ordering the killing of protesters during the demonstrations earlier this year that ultimately forced his resignation.

What is interesting about these processes is that - whatever the merits of the respective cases against them - both men may escape a full trial because of their health. Mr. Chirac has produced medical testimony saying that he is losing his memory, and can't remember the events in question. While Mr. Mubarak has such serious health problems that in earlier sessions, he was brought into court on a hospital bed.

This seems to be the norm when it is a matter of heads of state. Immunity from prosecution, statutes of limitations, the difficulties of obtaining evidence, and the sheer power of obstruction available to a sitting President all combine to make it virtually impossible to bring one to trial. Bill Clinton was an exception; but that prosecution got nowhere, and, if anything, brought the impeachment process into disrepute.

Against that background, the ex-Prime Minister of Iceland, Geir Haarde, must feel a little bit hard done by. Mr. Haarde is no longer in office; but he is a sprightly 60-year old and in rude good health. He was also on trial today, for "failures of ministerial responsibility" (he was PM when Iceland's economy collapsed in 2008). Although he, like the others, has denied the charges, he must be wishing that the Icelandic judicial system wasn't quite so efficient.

Walter Blotscher