crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
serious violations. 9 Likewise, numerous multilateral human rights instruments require the prosecution
and punishment of perpetrators of serious violations through the provision of effective remedy for
victims and freedoms against torture and slavery. 10 The European Union and some Member States have
taken action to augment their compliance with these obligations both at the national level and through
mutual assistance. 11 The Council had stated in 2003 that these crimes “must not go unpunished and
that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at national level and by enhancing
international cooperation.” 12
The modalities and requirements for the right to justice are detailed below.
2.2. Serious crimes under international law
The obligation to investigate and prosecute covers acts which are described as “serious crimes
against international law”. Including grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and Additional
Protocol I, genocide, crimes against humanity and other internationally recognised human rights which
when violated states are required to penalise, like torture, slavery, extrajudicial executions and enforced
disappearances. 13
The crimes of totalitarian regimes fall within the ambit of existing international law instruments.
Indeed, the crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity were criminalised by the international
community in the mid-twentieth century as a direct response to the atrocities perpetrated by totalitarian
regimes in Europe against their own nationals and the nationals of occupied territories. 14 The instrument
governing the trial of the major Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg defined “crimes against humanity”
as “murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any
civilian population, before or during the war, or persecution on political, racial or religious grounds in
furtherance of or in connection with any crime within the domestic law of the country where perpetrated”. 15
The subsequent indictment charged the defendants with “deliberate and systematic genocide, viz.,
the extermination of racial and national groups, against the civilian populations of certain occupied
9
See Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December 1948, entered into force 12 January 1951,
78 UNTS 277, arts.4 and 5; Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in
the Field (‘Geneva Convention I’), 14 August 1949, entered into force 21 October 1950, 75 UNTS 31, art. 49; Geneva Convention for
the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea (‘Geneva Convention II’), 12
August 1949, entered into force 21 October 1950, 75 UNTS 85, art. 50; Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
(‘Geneva Convention III’), 12 August 1949, entered into force 21 October 1950, 75 UNTS 135, art. 129; Geneva Convention relative
to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (‘Geneva Convention IV’), 12 August 1949, entered into force 21 October 1950,
75 UNTS 287, art. 146; Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts (‘Protocol I to Geneva Conventions’), 8 June 1977, entered into force 7 December 1978, 1125 UNTS 3, art.
86(1); Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International
Armed Conflicts (‘Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions’), 8 June 1977, entered into force 7 December 1978, 1125 UNTS 609 and
Prosecutor v. Tadić, Case No. IT-94-1-AR72, Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, Appeal Chamber
Judgment, 2 October 1995, paras.128–137; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(‘Torture Convention’), 10 December 1984, entered into force 26 June 1987, GA res. 39/46, annex, 39 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197,
UN Doc. A/39/51 (1984); 1465 UNTS 85, arts. 4–5 and Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro (‘Genocide case’) ICJ Reports
1997, para. 449; International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, 30 November 1973, entered into
force 18 July 1976, 1015 UNTS 243; G.A. res. 3068 (XXVIII)), 28 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 30) at 75, U.N. Doc.A/9030 (1974), art. 4;
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (‘Rome Statute’), 17 July 1998, entered into force 1 July 2002, UN Doc.A/CONF.183/9;
2187 UNTS 90, preamble and art. 1; and International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 20
December 2006, not in force, UN Doc.A/RES/61/177, art. 6.
10
See Universal Declaration of Human Rights (‘UDHR’), 10 December 1948, GA res. 217A (III), UN Doc A/810 at 71 (1948), art. 8;
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’), 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976, GA res. 2200A
(XXI), 21 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, UN Doc.A/6316 (1966); 999 UNTS 171, arts. 2, 3, 6–9; and Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (‘ECHR’), 4 November 1950, entered into force 3 September 1953, ETS 5; 213 UNTS 221,
arts. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 13.
11
See Council Decision 2003/335/JHA of 8 May 2003, Official Journal L 118, 14/052003 P.0012-0014; Decision 2002/494/JHA of 13 June
2002, Official Journal L 167, 26/06/2002 P.0001-0002; Human Rights Watch, Universal Jurisdiction in Europe: The State of the Art,
8/5(D) (June 2006).
12
Council Decision 2003/335/JHA of 8 May 2003, Official Journal L 118, 14/052003 P.0012-0014.
13
2005 Updated Set of Principles to Combat Impunity, UN Doc.E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1, Definitions, B.
14
See M. C. Bassiouni, Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht 1992, pp.176–191; W. A.
Schabas, Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, pp. 24–42.
15
Charter of the International Military Tribunal, art. 6(c). This was elaborated upon and included in the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court, art. 7. Included in crimes against humanity, persecution is defined as “against any identifiable group or collectivity on
political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender …, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under
international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court”.
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