IDRB

UNIT-4, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

SYNOPSIS
 Introduction
 Need for ICC
 Constitution and composition of icc
 Jurisdiction of ICC
 Penalties
 Law applied by icc
 Pre-trial chambers
 Trial
 Appeal
 Functions of ICC

INTRODUCTION
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002 and it seeks to
prosecute those who are guilty of serious international crimes like war crimes,
genocide and crimes against humanity.
It offers justice to the victims of atrocities and deters the individuals from
committing large scale political crimes.
Its headquarters are in the Netherlands at The Hague.
ICC is different from the International Court of Justice as the ICC handles
prosecutions of individuals whereas ICJ hears disputes between the States.

NEED FOR ICC

In the wake of World War II, Nuremberg Trials (the first international war
crimes tribunal) was launched by the Allied powers to prosecute top Nazi
officials.
Until the 1990s, the governments did not coalesce around the idea of forming a
permanent court to hold the individuals guilty for the world’s most serious
crimes.
To deal with war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the United Nations had set
up ad hoc international criminal tribunals, but these tribunals were considered to
be inefficient and inadequate by many international law experts.
Trinidad and Tobago requested that a UN commission look into the creation of a
permanent court in 1989. Such efforts gained support in the following years,
especially in Europe and Africa.
The European Union adopted a binding policy in support of the International
Criminal Court in 2011.
In July 1998, at a conference in Rome, the founding treaty of ICC was adopted
by the UN General Assembly.
In July, 2001, the Rome Statute entered into force after it was ratified by more
than sixty countries.

CONSTITUTION AND COMPOSITION OF ICC

The International Criminal Court is composed of mainly 4 primary organs:
1. The Presidency.
2. The Chambers.
3. The Office of the Prosecutors.
4. The Registry.
There are multiple field offices that have been set up by ICC in countries where
investigations are held.
Those detailed by ICC are moved to a detention center that is safe & secure &
the authority responsible for inspection in the Centre is International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC).
It must also be noted that it is not a United Nations Organisation but had a
cooperation agreement with the UN

JURISDICTION OF ICC
The Rome Statute, grants the ICC jurisdiction over four main crimes:
 The crime of Genocide
 Crimes against Humanity
 War crimes
 Crime of Aggression

GENOCIDE CRIMES
Article 6 of the Rome Statute defines genocide crimes as:
 Killing members of any group.
 Causing mental harm or serious bodily harm to members of any group.
 Coercively transferring children of a group to any other group.
  Imposing measures intended to forbid births within any group.
Genocide was firstly recognised as a crime under International law in 1946 by
the United Nations general assembly.

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

Article 7 of the Rome Statute: It means any of the acts when done as part of
wide-spread or organized attacks directed against any civilian population with
knowledge of attacks:
 Murder.
 Extermination.
 Deportation or forced transfer of people.
 Enslavement.
 Detention or Serious Deprivation of physical freedom in Infringement of
International rules of International law.
 Torture.
 Rape; Sexual slavery; Forced prostitution; Forced pregnancy; or any
other Sexual violence of similar gravity.
 Enforced disappearance of individuals.
 Crimes of apartheid.
 Another inhuman act of comparable nature purposely causing great
suffering; genuine injury to body or mental or physical health.

WAR CRIMES
Article 8 of Rome Statute defines War Crimes.
War crime is an offence that makes a severe violation of the law of war which
gives rise to individual criminal responsibility. War crimes can also be defined
as unjustified acts of violence, infringement of treaties, or violating practices
that rule military conflicts.
War crimes include grave breaches of Geneva Convention.
War crimes are generally committed by army personnel but some time it may
also be done by politicians and civilians. Some examples of War Crimes are:
1. Intentionally killing of civilians.
2. Torturing civilians.
3. Destroying civilian property.
4. Taking hostages.
5. Rape.
6. Using child soldiers.
 7. Sexual slavery.

CRIMES OF AGGRESSION
An “act of aggression” means “the use of armed force by state against the
sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in
any other manner inconsistent with the charter of the United Nation” Article
8(2) bis Rome Statute.
There are two essential elements which are required in the crime of aggression:
 The offender of the crime must be political leader or a military leader.
 The court must have to show that the offender was involved in the
planning, preparation, commission, and execution of the crime.

PENALTIES
Article 77 - Applicable penalties
1. Subject to article 110, the Court may impose one of the following penalties
on a persa convicted of a crime referred to in article 5 of this Statute:
(a) Imprisonment for a specified number of years, which may not exceed a
maximun a 30 years; or
(b) A term of life imprisonment when justified by the extreme gravity of the
crime and t individual circumstances of the convicted person.
2. In addition to imprisonment, the Court may order:
(a) A fine under the criteria provided for in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence
(b) A forfeiture of proceeds, property and assets derived directly or indirectly f
crime, without prejudice to the rights of bona fide third parties.

ARTICLE 21 - APPLICABLE LAW

1. The Court shall apply:
a. In 1st place, this Statute, Elements of Crimes and its Rules of Procedure and
Evidence;
b. In the second place, where appropriate, applicable treaties and the principles
and rules of international law, including the established principles of the
international law of armed conflict;
c. Failing that, general principles of law derived by the Court from national laws
of legal systems of the world including, as appropriate, the national laws of
States that would normally exercise jurisdiction over the crime, provided that
those principles are not inconsistent with this Statute and with international law
and internationally recognized norms and standards.
2. Court may apply principles and rules of law as interpreted in its previous
decisions.
3. The application and interpretation of law pursuant to this article must be
consistent with internationally recognized human rights, and be without any
adverse distinction founded on grounds such as gender as defined in article 7,
paragraph 3, age, race, colour, language

PRE-TRIAL
Introductory appearance: 3 judges of Pre-Trial committee verify accused
identity and make sure that accused understands the charges against him.
Conformation of charges hearing: After hearing the prosecution, the defence and
the legal spoke person of the victims, the judges of pre-trial committee decides
whether there is sufficient proof for case to go for hearing or not.
When the accused is not arrested or is not emerged, legal submissions are to be
done but proceedings cannot initiate.

TRIAL
In front of 3 judges of trial phase the prosecution should establish beyond
justifiable doubt the wrongdoing of suspect. Judges observes every proof after
that pass a judgement and if there is a judgement of guilt, the judges can
sentence an individual up to thirty years of imprisonment & in extraordinary
situations a life sentence. Judges of trial committee may order compensation for
the sufferer. If the evidence is not sufficient then in that case the case is
terminated & suspect is acquitted. In case of acquittal the defence and the
prosecutor can appeal the case before the appeal committee.

APPEALS
Prosecutor and the defence both have the right to appeal the judgement of the
trial chamber before the Appeal Chamber. Convicted persons and victims both
can appeal an order for compensation before the appeal chamber.
An appeal committee consists of 5 judges who are not the same judges which
have passed the original judgement.
The main role of the Appeal Chamber is to decide whether to reverse, alter the
judgement or uphold the decision of the trial chamber. The Appeal Chamber can
also order a new trial in a different trial chamber.
FUNCTION OF ICC
 The ICC aims to end impunity and hold those individuals responsible for
heinous crimes against humanity to face justice.
 It also aims to prevent crimes from happening through the proper
dispensation of justice.
 The ICC intends to complement national courts and not replace them.
 It is governed by an international statute known as the Rome Statute. The
Statute entered into force in July 2002.
 The Court has about 900 staff members from about one hundred nations.
 It has two working languages namely English and French. There are 6
official languages namely, English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and
Russian.
 The ICC has heard 28 cases until now.
 India is not a member of the ICC.
 Each member party has one vote and voting is resorted to only when
decisions cannot be taken by consensus.