Studies in International Criminal Law – serie

War crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression (so-called ‘core crimes’) often could not be committed without financial assistance. This book examines the basis for individual criminal liability under international law for persons who finance core crimes. Despite the need for clear rules, neither international courts nor scholars agree upon whether or not, or under what circumstances, such liability exists. To determine the minimum standard of liability, this work analyses the legal rules relating to complicity, both under international criminal law and domestically in twenty selected jurisdictions in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania. The aim of these analyses is to determine whether there are general principles of law recognised by the community of States regarding the minimum standard of liability for aiders and abettors. This book proposes a comparative framework for assessing legal rules relating to complicity, and it advances a normative claim as to how legal rules should be structured concerning the criminal responsibility of individuals who finance the commission of core crimes. The analysis of the applicable international law and the comparative analysis of national jurisdictions lead to the conclusion that, currently, the minimum standard of knowledge for aiding and abetting is active knowledge. However, the author argues that this standard should be revised to include wilful blindness. Regarding the intent requirement, the analyses find that dolus eventualis is included in the definition of intent.

It is statistically unlikely that humans are the only intelligent species in the universe. Nothing about the others will be known until contact is made beyond a radio signal from space that merely tells us they existed when it was sent. That contact may occur tomorrow, in a hundred years, or never. If it does it will be a high-risk scenario for humanity. It may be peaceful or hostile. Relying on alien altruism and benign intentions is wishful thinking. We need to begin identifying as a planetary species, and develop a global consensus on how to respond in either scenario.

This book unlocks the look, sound, smell, taste, and feel of justice for massive human rights abuses. Twenty-nine expert authors examine the dynamics of the five human senses in how atrocity is perceived, remembered, and condemned. This book is chockful of images. It serves up remarkably diverse content. It treks around the globe: from Pacific war crimes trials in the aftermath of the Second World War to Holocaust proceedings in contemporary Germany, France, and Israel; from absurd show trials in Communist Czechoslovakia to international courtrooms in Arusha, Phnom Penh, and The Hague. Readers embark on a journey that transcends myriad dimensions, including photographic representations of grandfatherly old torturers in Argentina, narco-trafficking in Mexico, colonialisation in India, disinformation and misinformation pixelated in cyberspace, environmental degradation in Cambodia, militarism in Northern Ireland, and civil rights activism in Atlanta. Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions reimagines what an atrocity means, reconsiders what drives the manufacture of law, and reboots the role of courtrooms and other mechanisms in the pursuit of justice. It unveils how law translates sensory experience into its procedures and institutions, and how humanistic inputs shape perceptions of right and wrong. This book thereby offers a refreshing primer on the underappreciated role of aesthetics, time, and emotion in the world of law.Drumbl and Fournet have done us all a great service in knitting together – in a single, powerfully imagined, volume – these essays about how we might experience the institutionalisation of judgment in atrocity trials.– Gerry Simpson, Professor of Public International Law, LSE Law School (London).Contributions to this volume offer a unique opportunity to delve into law’s hidden landscape using the primary reality of the five senses. – Marina Aksenova, Assistant Professor in Comparative and International Criminal Law, IE Law School (Madrid).

This book examines how the International Criminal Court (ICC) evaluates evidence within its hybrid legal framework, providing a comparative analysis of continental and common law traditions as applied in trial practice. It illustrates how the legal backgrounds of judges influence both conceptual and practical understanding of the prosecutorial burden of proof, the presumption of innocence, and the principle of free evaluation of evidence. These disparities create tensions in the way evidence is assessed.Focusing on key cases such as Bemba, Gbagbo, and Ongwen, the book identifies recurring challenges, including the tendency to confuse procedural rules with the rigorous reasoning process required by evidence law. It challenges the continental assumption that evidence law is merely a set of admissibility rules. It redefines it as a body of law that offers a structured method of reasoning, supporting a principled approach to the admissibility of evidence at the trial stage and its evaluation at the judgment stage.The lack of consistent, robust reasoning in the case law of the ICC on evidence issues has resulted in reasoning contradictions, exposing it to criticism. Fairness, transparency, and legitimacy have been compromised, particularly as the principle of free evaluation of evidence, is conceptually incompatible with the prosecutorial burden of proof. However, it continues to be regarded as a safeguard of the presumption of innocence, even during the weighing process at the end of the trial.The book proposes a bespoke evidence law for the ICC: one that is neither transplanted from national legal orders nor eclectic in design, but uniquely crafted to meet the specific needs of each case. It offers legal scholars, judges, prosecutors, and practitioners a comprehensive analysis of the conceptual misunderstandings that affect evidentiary reasoning at the Court. It argues that a principled approach to evaluating international criminal evidence is essential for developing a consistent body of evidence law for International Criminal Tribunals.

What happens when a former child soldier becomes a convicted war criminal? Lights and Shadows of the Ongwen Case at the International Criminal Court explores this unique and controversial trial – arguably the most complex in ICC history. Learn how law, culture, gender, and justice collide through insights from legal scholars, anthropologists, and sociologists. From charges of forced marriage to the role of spiritual duress, and from local Acholi justice practices to the lives of children born of war, this edited collection uncovers some of the difficult questions international criminal law must face. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the challenges of international criminal justice in action.