Belgian prosecutors have reopened an inquiry into alleged crimes against humanity by French oil firm Total over its pipeline project in Burma.
Belgium's Supreme Court of Appeals stopped an inquiry by federal prosecutors' in 2005 after ruling that four Burmese refugees who brought the case against the oil giant did not have the same rights as Belgian citizens to file a complaint.
A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors today announced that instruction had come from the Defence Ministry and that a pre-trial hearing in the last week of October could determine whether the matter could go forward for trial.
A spokeswoman for Total had no comment on the development.
The refugees filed a suit against Total in 2002, using a controversial Belgian human rights law that gives the courts the right to try people accused of crimes against humanity and other atrocities committed anywhere in the world.
The refugees' complaint targeted Total, its chairman Thierry Desmarest and former head of its Burma operations Herve Madeo for complicity in torture and forced labour of workers in building a pipeline in the country.
Total has denied funding the military dictatorship but has said the junta paid soldiers to protect its installations and workers. The pipeline was completed in 1998.
Belgium revised the law in 2003 to make it harder for foreigners to use it for politically motivated lawsuits. Its courts had been flooded with lawsuits claiming rights violations by world figures such as Israel's Ariel Sharon and US leaders.
The news of the reopening of the Total case comes as the European Union has been considering tightening sanctions on Burma after a new bloody crackdown on street protests last week.