The International Criminal Court will not put Tony Blair on trial for war crimes because decisions on launching a conflict are outside its remit.

The tribunal investigates only atrocities that take place on the battlefield, such as torture, maiming and execution.

The former Labour Prime Minister has faced calls to be prosecuted amid claims he took the UK to war – a decision which plunged the Middle East into bloodshed and violence – based on lies.

But the court in The Hague said that the ‘decision by the UK to go to war in Iraq falls outside the Court’s jurisdiction’.

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Tony Blair will not face charges from the International Criminal Court because 'launching a conflict is outside of its remit'

Only one British soldier, Corporal Donald Payne, has been convicted of a war crime after he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians in relation to the killing of a hotel receptionist in Basra.

But if Mr Blair had known that British troops had committed war crimes, he could have been prosecuted.

Last month former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba was jailed for 18 years by the ICC for heading a sadistic campaign of rape and murder in the neighbouring Central African Republic.

The 53-year-old ex-militia leader directed troops who acted with ‘particular cruelty’ when they rampaged across the country in 2002-03.

Prosecutors in the Hague, who usually try dictators who commit genocide, controversially confirmed they would examine the long-awaited 2.6million-word report for evidence of war crimes by UK troops.

Last night serving soldiers and the bereaved families of those killed in the illegal conflict expressed anger and disgust at the court’s stance.

It raises the grim prospect of individual troops being hounded while the former Labour leader, who made misleading claims about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction to justify the 2003 invasion, evades justice.

Sir John Chilcot’s report, which has taken seven years and cost more than £10million, will be published on Wednesday.

Sir John Chilcot, pictured, will publish his report into the Iraq War on Wednesday, with Mr Blair expected to be criticised for 'misusing intelligence' to bolster his case to take Britain into a conflict

The 6,000-page document is expected to strongly criticise Mr Blair’s role, including his misuse of intelligence to bolster his case for war.

The ICC is already probing more than 1,000 allegations that UK forces tortured and mistreated Iraqi prisoners.

It means British soldiers cleared by UK courts of unlawfully killing Iraqi citizens could still face the ordeal of war crimes trials.

The ICC announced two years ago that it had launched a ‘preliminary examination’ into claims of mistreatment by UK troops after being handed a dossier by solicitor Phil Shiner.

Mr Shiner’s legal aid-funded firm Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) was criticised in December 2014 after the year-long Al Sweady Inquiry demolished its claims that soldiers murdered, tortured and mutilated Iraqi detainees in May 2004.

The law firm has been responsible for making thousands of complaints to the Ministry of Defence of abuse and mistreatment of Iraqis by British troops.

Former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, pictured, was jailed for 18 years by the ICC for heading a sadistic campaign of rape and murder in the neighbouring Central African Republic

In a statement, the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC said: ‘We will take note of the Chilcot report when released in the context of its ongoing preliminary examination work concerning Iraq/UK.

‘A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process aimed at determining whether reasonable basis exist to open an investigation.

‘As already indicated by the Office in 2006, the “decision by the UK to go to war in Iraq falls outside the Court’s jurisdiction”.’

Prosecutors at the ICC have already refused to grant immunity from the possibility of fresh charges to troops giving evidence to Iraq Fatality Investigations, whose functions are similar to those of a coroner’s inquest.

These hearings are examining the deaths of Iraqis at the hands of UK troops during the six-year war.

Troops have faced several legal probes over single allegations of wrong-doing.

These include a military investigation and court martial; the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, which looks at cases brought by PIL or legal firm Leigh Day; the Iraq Fatality Investigations; the ICC; and civil claims in the High Court from bereaved families.

A cross-party group is considering using an ancient Parliamentary mechanism to impeach Mr Blair for misleading Parliament over the Iraq war.

The former prime minister may also face legal action from bereaved families who believe he is guilty of ‘malfeasance in public office’ on the grounds that he overstepped his constitutional powers and that led to mass casualties.

Mr Blair told Sky News: ‘Wednesday is the time the report is published. I have said many times over these past years I will wait for the report and then I will make my views known and express myself fully and properly.