The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the international system of criminal justice which administers the top criminal lawyers in bangalore crimes against humanity as a whole. It operates upon a statute which is known as the ‘Rome Statute’. The Rome Statute came into force on July 1, 2002. It is a legal document, containing the whole effort of mankind against the abolishment of dangerous crimes and for punishment the criminals that depreciate the most important value such as human life.
Before the Rome Statute, there used to exist only temporary criminal mechanisms, exactly ad-hoc tribunals which came into existence due to concrete conflicts. Nuremberg, Tokyo, International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
What is criminal responsibility?
The term ‘criminal responsibility’ can be referred as a person’s ability to understand his or her conduct at the time a crime is committed. To further explain, what a person has in mind when he commits a crime, or what result is anticipated when a crime is committed. Laws define crimes in terms of an act or omission actus rea and a mental state mens rea. Criminal responsibility relates to the mental state element of a crime.
What is Individual Criminal Responsibility?
When there is commission of a crime with international importance, besides State responsibility for violations of international law, individuals may be held criminally responsible for international crimes i.e., crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, etc..
For example, if there is a breach of laws of war, each member of the armed forces is directly responsible for breaches he or she commits and can be held individually responsible before a criminal court for violations of the laws of war. It is possible to hold accountable the individuals who actually commit a war crime, but different forms of individual criminal responsibility allow persons who attempt, assist, facilitate, aid, abet, plan or instigate the commission of an international crime to face accountability for their actions.
According to the 25th Article of ICC statute, the court has the jurisdiction or authorized power over every person falling under jurisdiction of this statute and a person shall be punished as per the crime. This statute also talks about committing the crime within the jurisdiction of the court and whether he or she will be liable for the punishment.
The person being held responsible for committing the crime is not necessarily must be participating in doing something explicitly or directly, but aiding or abetting for doing an act or giving or supplying any object or weapons will also be liable and would be kept under the scope of this Article and accordingly, would be given same punishment as it would be given to the persons who have committed the crime.
It has also been stated that if any group, people or organization work for a common intention or motive, which ultimately resorts to an offence under the scope of ICC Statute. Every person involved in that organization or group shall be made liable for the act that has been pursued. It also covers the crimes related to genocide. Genocide is killing of masses especially for being oriented towards any religion or ethics or of any particular ideology. It has been observed, individuals are held responsible for planning and preparation for the commission of the crime.
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