The crime of genocide and contextual elements: A comment on the ICC pre-trial chamber's decision in the Al Bashir case

Journal of International Criminal Justice

Volumn 7, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 297-306

  Kreß, Claus ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE   (Germany)

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EID: 67651153053     PISSN: 14781387     EISSN: 14781395     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jicj/mqp031     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (44)

1. See the last sentence of §2 of the Introduction to the ICC Elements of Crimes on Crimes against Humanity (ICC-ASP/1/3).
2. ICTY, Judgment, Jelisić (IT-95-10-T), Trial Chamber, 14 December 1999, §100.
3. Introduction to the ICC Elements, supra note 1.
4. Ibid.
5. Public Redacted Version of the Prosecutor's Application under Article 58 filed on 14 July 2008, Situation in Darfur, The Sudan (ICC-02/ 05-157), Pre-Trial Chamber I, 12 September 2008, 14 July 2008, §209; cf. also §76 of the same document.
6. Decision on the Prosecution's Application for a Warrant of Arrest against Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir ('Al Bashir') (ICC-02/05-01/09), Pre-Trial Chamber I, 4 March 2009, § 125.
7. Ibid., §124.
8. Ibid., §133.
9. Ibid., Separate and Partly Dissenting Opinion of Judge Anita Usačka, §§ 16 and 20.
10. Ibid., §19, fn 26.
11. See already, C. Kreß, 'The Crime of Genocide under International Law', 6 International Criminal Law Review (2006) 461-502, at 471 et seq.
12. R. Cryer et al., An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 177 et seq.
13. W. Rückert and G. Witschel, 'Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in the Elements of Crimes' in H. Fischer, C. Kreß and S.R. Lüder (eds), International and National Prosecution of Crimes Under International Law (Berlin: Berlin Verlag, 2001), 66.
14. W.A. Schabas, 'Darfur and the 'Odious Scourge': The Commission of Inquiry's Findings on Genocide', 18 Leiden Journal of International Law (2005) 871-885, 877.
15. R. Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation: Analysis of Government: Proposals for Redress (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1944), 79.
16. For such suggestions, see UN Doc. A/C.6/211, 1 October 1948 (France); UN Doc. A/C.6/217, 5 October 1948 (Belgium).
17. For the same view, see W.A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes (2nd edn., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 244 et seq.
18. Cryer et al., supra note 12, at 167.
19. C. Kreß, 'The Darfur Report and Genocidal Intent', 3 Journal of International Criminal Justice (JICJ) (2005) 562-578, at 575 et seq.
20. Cryer et al., supra note 12, at 178 et seq.
21. V. Oosterveld, 'The Context of Genocide' in R. Lee (ed.), The International Criminal Court: Elements of Crimes and Rules of Procedure and Evidence (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2001), 45
22. for a similar observation, see Rückert and Witschel, supra note 12, at 66.
23. Judgement, Krstić (IT-98-33-T), Trial Chamber, 2 August 2001, §682
24. cf. also the following wise statement of the ICTY prosecution: '[I]n the interests of international justice, genocide should not be diluted or belittled by too broad an interpretation. Indeed, it should be reserved only for acts of exceptional gravity and magnitude which shock the conscience of humankind and which, therefore, justify the appellation of genocide as the "ultimate crime"': Karadžić and Mladić (IT-95-5-R61), Transcript of Hearing before the Trial Chamber, 27 June 1996, 15 et seq.
25. Judgement, Krstić (IT-98-33-A), Appeals Chamber, 19 April 2004, §223 et seq.
26. For the same view, see Schabas, supra note 16, at 245.
27. The same author is also correct in criticizing the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY for a similarly poor reasoning with respect to the plan or policy requirement of crimes against humanity: The ICCSt.'s retention of the policy requirement in Art. 7(2)(a) is evidence for the fact that the judicial pronouncements of the ICTY advocated for a legal development too far ahead of what states were prepared to accept. See C. Kreß, 'The International Criminal Court as a Turning Point in the History of International Criminal Justice', in A. Cassese et al. (eds), The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 148.
28. R. Cryer et al., supra note 12, at 246 et seq.
29. for the same view, see C. Kreß, supra note 11, at 470 et seq.
30. Judgement, Jelisić (IT-95-10-A), Appeals Chamber, 5 July 2001, §48
31. in the same case, the Trial Chamber went even further and stated that 'it will be very difficult in practice to provide proof of the genocidal intent of an individual if the crimes committed are not widespread and if the crime charged is not backed by an organization or system: Judgement, Jelisić (IT95-10-T), Trial Chamber, 14 December 1999, §101.
32. See Krstić, supra note 22.
33. Introduction to the ICC Elements, supra note 1.
34. Al Bashir, supra note 6, §147 et seq., §151.
35. The Chamber recognizes that the 'collective' intent would follow from the 'individual' intent if Al Bashir were in full control of the State apparatus: Al Bashir, supra note 6, §148 et seq.
36. It is worth emphasizing that the concept of realistic intent is not prejudicial to the decision in the debate between a 'purpose-based' and a 'knowledge-based' approach to the individual intent: Pursuant to the 'purpose-based' approach, the individual perpetrator, in addition to his knowledge of the genocidal campaign, must act with the 'conscious desire' to contribute to the group's (partial) destruction. For the 'knowledge-based' approach, the individual perpetrator's knowledge of the realistic collective goal to destroy suffices. The Chamber refers to this controversy in §139 (fn 154) of its decision (Al Bashir, supra note 6), but the treatment of the matter remains superficial.
37. Certainly the complex legal issue cannot be decided by a simple 'literal interpretation', as the Chamber seems to suggest. For a detailed discussion of the question, see: A.K.A. Greenawalt, 'Rethinking Genocidal Intent: The Case for a Knowledge-Based Interpretation', 99 Columbia Law Review (1999) 2259-2294, 2259
38. A. Gil Gil, Derecho Penal Internacional: Especial consideracion del delito de genocidio (Madrid: Editorial Tecnos, 1999), 259 et seq.
39. H. Vest, Genozid durch organisatorische Machtapparate (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2002), 104 et seq.
40. H. van der Wilt, 'Complicity in Genocide and International v. Domestic Jurisdiction', 4 JICJ (2006) 239-257, 242
41. C. Kreß, supra note 18, 565 et seq.
42. and most recently, Schabas, supra note 16, at xiv and 242 et seq.
43. Al Bashir, supra note 6
44. for Judge Uśacka's dissent, see supra note 9.