KARLSRUHE, Germany, Feb 10 (AFP) - Germany will not act on a complaint filed with a prosecutor seeking a criminal probe into US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld`s role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, officials said Thursday.
Federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said only the United States, as the home country of the accused, could pursue any prosecution.
"There is no indication that a German was responsible for the alleged acts," Nehm said.
In November, an international legal team filed a criminal complaint in Berlin against Rumsfeld and other senior US officials over abuses at the notorious prison near Baghdad.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin`s Republican Lawyers` Association said they and four Iraqi citizens allegedly mistreated by US soldiers were seeking a probe by German prosecutors of US policy-makers.
They said they had chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Rumsfeld was believed to have cancelled a plan to attend a high-profile security conference starting on Friday in the German city of Munich because of the criminal complaint.
A Pentagon spokesman told AFP last week that the lodging of the criminal complaint was "a factor in the decision" on whether Rumsfeld attends the Munich conference.
On Thursday, Rumsfeld was in the French Riviera city of Nice attending a meeting of NATO defence ministers.
There was no immediate reaction from Rumsfeld to the news, but German Defence Minister Peter Struck welcomed the announcement.
"It was clear to me that such a complaint would never have been successful in Germany," Struck said.
Seven US soldiers face charges of abusing Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib.
Several pictures of the abuse showing naked and injured Iraqi prisoners alongside smiling US soldiers have sparked international outrage.
In the first court martial resulting from Abu Ghraib, Army Specialist Charles Graner was sentenced in January to 10 years in prison for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqis.
Four others accused in the abuse have pleaded guilty to various charges.
02/10/2005 15:12 GMT - AFP