Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

861 Pages·2006·2.57 MB·English

Genocide, War Crimes and
Crimes Against Humanity

A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Copyright © 2006 Human Rights Watch
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-56432-339-0
Cover design by Rafael Jimenez

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author of this updated volume is Jennifer Trahan, Of Counsel to the International Justice Program of
Human Rights Watch. Ms. Trahan is a consultant on international justice issues and teaches courses on
international criminal tribunals and/or international law as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Fordham Law
School, Brooklyn Law School, and the New School for General Studies.
The following interns assisted in the compilation, formatting, researching and/or proofreading of this book:
Joni M. Canada, Brian Honermann, Jennifer Kettner and Amber Lewis (from Fordham Law School);
Laureve Blackstone, Deepinder Mayell and Kelly Paul Peters (from Brooklyn Law School); Jill Dawson,
Neza Kogovsek, and Leonie von Braun (Human Rights Watch interns or former interns); and Jay Meisel.
Richard Dicker, Director of the International Justice Program, provided overall guidance. Bogdan
Ivanisevic, researcher on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia and Montengro provided review
on behalf of the Europe and Central Asia Division. Wilder Tayler, Human Rights Watch’s legal and policy
director, provided the legal and policy review. Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director, conducted
program review. Hannah Gaertner, associate in the International Justice Program, Veronica Matushaj,
photo editor and associate director in the Development and Outreach division, Andrea Holley, manager of
outreach and public education, and Fitroy Hepkins, mail manager in the Publications division, assisted in
preparing this report for production.
Human Rights Watch additionally gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Shearman & Sterling’s
London Office and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (NY) in formatting the manuscript for publication. In
particular, Human Rights Watch expresses appreciation to Schulte Roth & Zabel partner Brooks R.
Burdette, and Shearman & Sterling associate (and former Human Rights Watch intern) Lisa Gambone.
Human Rights Watch also acknowledges the assistance of Marieke Wierda, Senior Associate at the
International Center for Transitional Justice, for providing valuable advice regarding the final chapter of
the book.
Human Rights Watch also would like to acknowledge the financial support of the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation and the JEHT Foundation.
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PREFACE
This book provides a topically organized digest of the jurisprudence of the International Tribunal for the
Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed
in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 (ICTY or Tribunal). It is intended as an accessible
reference tool to assist practitioners and researchers as they familiarize themselves with ICTY case law.
The digest includes judgments publicly available through December 31, 2005. A full list of the judgments
included is located on pages 15-18.
The book is divided into ten chapters. It covers: war crimes (both grave breaches, and violations of the
laws or customs of war), genocide, crimes against humanity, individual responsibility, command
responsibility, affirmative defenses, jurisdiction, sentencing, as well as miscellaneous topics such as fair
trial rights, guilty pleas and appellate review. Summarizing and excerpting from ICTY judgments, the
chapters on war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, for example, detail the general
requirements for each crime, as well as underlying offenses. The book does not cover motion practice;
thus, for example, there is only limited material on evidentiary issues.
Many of the judgments quoted contain citations to other judgments or documents. Human Rights Watch
has not reproduced those here. Please refer to the official judgments for these additional citations.
This updated edition of the book, unlike its predecessor volume published by Human Rights Watch in
February 2004, contains “application” sections that quote ICTY judgments applying the facts to the law.
Because such analysis within the actual ICTY judgments is generally quite lengthy and detailed, these
application sections are necessarily truncated. For example, while the “campaign of sniping and shelling”
of Sarajevo is discussed for approximately 186 pages in the Galic Trial Chamber judgment, it is
represented by only a few paragraphs in this digest. For the full factual analysis, please refer to the
official judgments. Additionally, the “application” sections do not purport to be comprehensive. Their
inclusion or exclusion should not be read as commentary on the relative importance or unimportance of
particular judgments or portions of judgments.
This book generally uses terms as they are defined in the individual judgments quoted. It is thus possible
that the same term may be defined differently in different places within the book. For example, Vojska
Republike Srpske (VRS or Army of Republika Srpska) is defined in slightly different ways in different
judgments. No attempt has been made to harmonize all such defined terms throughout the book.
This digest, of course, is not intended to be and should not be used as a substitute for reading the actual
decisions of the ICTY, which can be found on the ICTY website at http://www.un.org/icty/. The Statute of
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, S.C. Res. 827, U.N. Doc. S/Res/827 (1993),
as amended (ICTY Statute or Statute), can be found at http://www.un.org/icty/legaldoc/index.htm.

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SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................................i

PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................ii

SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS .........................................................................................iii

FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................................v

SUMMARY OF JUDGMENTS AGAINST THE ACCUSED..................................................1

LISTING OF CASES INCLUDED..............................................................................................15

I) WAR CRIMES: GRAVE BREACHES OF THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS OF 1949 (Article 2)..........................................................................................19
a) Statute......................................................................................................................................19
b) General elements for Article 2 crimes................................................................................19
c) Mens rea....................................................................................................................................37
d) Underlying offenses..............................................................................................................38
e) Miscellaneous.........................................................................................................................53

II) WAR CRIMES: VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS OR CUSTOMS
OF WAR (Article 3)...........................................................................................................................55
a) Statute......................................................................................................................................55
b) Generally.................................................................................................................................55
c) General elements for Article 3 crimes................................................................................62
d) Underlying offenses..............................................................................................................77

III) GENOCIDE (Article 4).........................................................................................................144
a) Statute....................................................................................................................................144
b) Generally...............................................................................................................................145
c) Specific intent/ dolus specialis: intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such......................................146
d) Application—genocide.......................................................................................................168
e) Underlying offenses............................................................................................................179
f) Punishable acts/ modes of responsibility for committing genocide...........................186

IV) CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY (Article 5)....................................................................192
a) Statute....................................................................................................................................192
b) General elements.................................................................................................................193
c) Application—general elements for Article 5...................................................................230
d) Underlying offenses............................................................................................................233

V) INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY (Article 7(1))..............................................................352
a) Statute....................................................................................................................................352
b) Generally...............................................................................................................................352
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c) Planning, instigating, ordering, committing....................................................................353
d) Aiding and abetting.............................................................................................................370
e) Joint criminal enterprise/ the common purpose doctrine............................................390

VI) COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY (Article 7(3)).................................................................446
a) Statute....................................................................................................................................446
b) Generally...............................................................................................................................446
c) Elements...............................................................................................................................450
d) Superior responsibility for genocide.................................................................................500
e) Application—superior responsibility................................................................................502

VII) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES..............................................................................................506
a) “Alibi” defense.....................................................................................................................506
b) Duress does not afford a complete defense....................................................................506
c) Tu quoque principle rejected: the argument that the
adversary committed similar crimes is not a valid defense..........................................506
d) Involvement in defensive operation is not a defense . . . .. . . ……………………..506
e) Diminished mental responsibility is not a defense.........................................................508

VIII) JURISDICTION....................................................................................................................509
a) Generally...............................................................................................................................509
b) Alleged illegal arrest did not deprive the Tribunal of jurisdiction................................509

IX) CHARGING, CONVICTIONS AND SENTENCING.................................................513
a) Cumulative charging...........................................................................................................513
b) Cumulative and concurrent convictions..........................................................................513
c) Sentencing.............................................................................................................................527

X) MISCELLANEOUS.................................................................................................................698
a) General considerations regarding legal interpretation...................................................698
b) Fair trial rights......................................................................................................................700
c) General considerations regarding the evaluation of evidence......................................740
d) Precedent and appellate review generally.........................................................................751
e) Appellate Chamber review of sentencing judgments.....................................................778
f) Accepting guilty pleas.........................................................................................................788

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FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUMMARY OF JUDGMENTS AGAINST THE ACCUSED.......................................................1
LISTING OF CASES INCLUDED..............................................................................................15
I) WAR CRIMES: GRAVE BREACHES OF THE GENEVA
CONVENTIONS OF 1949 (Article 2)..............................................................................19
a) Statute.................................................................................................................................................19
b) General elements for Article 2 crimes...........................................................................................19
i) the existence of an armed conflict (element 1)................................................................20
(1) armed conflict required............................................................................................20
(2) armed conflict defined.............................................................................................20
(3) duration of application of international humanitarian law.................................21
ii) there must be a nexus between the conflict and crimes alleged
(element 2).............................................................................................................................21
(1) not necessary that actual combat occurred in the area where
the crimes occurred..................................................................................................21
(2) it is sufficient that the crimes were closely related to the
hostilities.....................................................................................................................22
iii) the armed conflict must be international (element 3).....................................................22
(1) international armed conflict required.....................................................................22
(2) international armed conflict defined......................................................................22
(3) where state has not intervened in another state directly
through its own troops, “overall control test” applies to
determine whether sufficient control over military forces
exists............................................................................................................................23
(4) overall control test satisfied where a state has a role in
organizing, coordinating or planning the military actions of
the military group, in addition to financing, training and
equipping or providing operational support.........................................................24
(5) do not just look at the locality where the crimes occurred to
determine if conflict is international......................................................................25
(6) failure to recognize state of war irrelevant............................................................26
(7) pleading international armed conflict....................................................................27
(a) application—pleading international armed conflict.................................27
(8) application—international armed conflict............................................................28
(a) conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.........................28
(b) conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro)..................................................................................................29
iv) the person or property at issue must be “protected” (element 4).................................30
(1) protected persons defined.......................................................................................31
(2) ethnicity, allegiance, and substance of relations more
determinative of protected status that nationality or legal
characterization.........................................................................................................31
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(3) protected persons can be same nationality as captor..........................................33
(4) “in the hands of a party to the conflict or occupying power”
defined........................................................................................................................34
(5) application—protected persons..............................................................................34
v) application—general requirements of Article 2...............................................................35
(1) armed conflict and nexus between the alleged offenses and
armed conflict............................................................................................................35
(2) armed conflict was international.............................................................................36
(3) victims were protected persons..............................................................................36
c) Mens rea...............................................................................................................................................37
i) generally..................................................................................................................................37
ii) knowledge of existence of international armed conflict.................................................37
iii) distinguish intent from motive...........................................................................................37
d) Underlying offenses........................................................................................................................ 38
i) willful killing (Article 2(a))...................................................................................................38
(1) defined......................................................................................................................38
(2) whether same as murder under Articles 3 and 5................................................39
(3) no dead body required...........................................................................................39
(4) mens rea......................................................................................................................40
(a) no premeditation required...........................................................................41
(b) mens rea may be inferred either directly or
circumstantially..............................................................................................41
ii) torture or inhuman treatment (Article 2(b)).....................................................................42
(1) torture.........................................................................................................................42
(a) elements..........................................................................................................42
(b) same regardless of article.............................................................................42
(c) severity of pain or suffering.........................................................................42
(i) permanent injury not required........................................................42
(ii) rape meets severity requirement.....................................................43
(d) prohibited purpose required........................................................................43
(e) public official not required..........................................................................43
(2) inhuman treatment....................................................................................................44
(a) generally..........................................................................................................44
(b) defined............................................................................................................44
(c) application—inhuman treatment................................................................45
(i) use of persons as “human shields”.................................................45
(ii) forced labor........................................................................................45
iii) willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
(Article 2(c))...........................................................................................................................46
(1) defined........................................................................................................................46
(2) requires showing of serious mental or physical injury,
although need not be permanent or irremediable................................................47
iv) extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by
military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly (Article
2(d)).........................................................................................................................................47
(1) generally......................................................................................................................47
(2) elements......................................................................................................................47
(3) two types of property protected.............................................................................48
(4) extensive destruction required................................................................................49
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