U.S. judge dismisses case against Libyan commander accused of war crimes

A U.S. judge has dismissed a series of civil lawsuits against a Libyan military commander who once lived in Virginia and was accused of killing innocent civilians in the country’s civil war.

During a court hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that although the defendant, Khalifa Haftar, has U.S. citizenship and lives in northern Virginia She has been in office for more than 20 years, but she has no authority to preside over cases alleging war crimes in Libya. As an exile from Gaddafi’s regime, he lives on the outskirts of the capital.

The ruling represents a major reversal of fortune for Haftar. In 2022, Brinkema entered a default judgment against Haftar because he refused to testify about his role in the fighting that has plagued the country for the past decade.

But Haftar hired new lawyers, convinced a judge to reopen the case and allow Haftar to be deposed. He testified twice separately in 2022 and 2023, denying planning attacks against civilians.

Haftar was a former lieutenant under Gaddafi who defected to the United States in the 1980s. He is widely believed to have collaborated with the CIA while in exile.

In 2011, he returned to Libya to support anti-Gaddafi forces, rebelling against the dictator and killing him. During the country’s civil war, he led the self-styled Libyan National Army, which controlled much of the eastern half of Libya with support from Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, among others. He continues to dominate the eastern half of the country.

In the lawsuit, first filed in 2019, the plaintiffs said military bombings of civilian areas by Haftar’s forces killed members of Haftar’s family.

The lawsuits also claim that Haftar and his family own substantial property in Virginia that could have been used to pay off any judgment against him.

Although the lawsuits were dismissed on jurisdictional technicalities, one of Haftar’s lawyers, Paul Kamenar, said Haftar denied any involvement in civilian deaths.

“He’s not the heartless figure that everyone wants to portray him as,” Kamenard said in a phone interview Sunday.

Faisal Gill, an attorney for the plaintiff in one of the three lawsuits dismissed by Brinkema on Friday, said he plans to appeal the dismissal.

Mark Zaid, an attorney for another group of plaintiffs, called Brinkema’s ruling confusing and said he believed the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case was determined early in the case.

“A U.S. citizen committed war crimes abroad and has so far not escaped civil liability,” Zeid said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

In court documents, Haftar sought immunity from lawsuits in his capacity as head of state. The judge temporarily suspended the cases because she feared they could be used to influence Libya’s scheduled presidential election, in which Haftar is a candidate. Those elections were later postponed.