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In 1950 U.N. International
Law Commission adopted the Nuremberg Principles. The basic
premise of the principles is that no person, no matter
what their office, stands above international law.
Principle I
Any person who commits
an act which constitutes a crime under international law
is responsible therefore and liable to punishment.
Principle II
The fact that internal
law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes
a crime under international law does not relieve the person
who committed the act from responsibility under international
law.
Principle III
The fact that a
person who committed an act which constitutes a crime
under international law acted as Head of State or responsible
Government official does not relieve him from responsibility
under international law.
Principle IV
The fact that a
person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of
a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under
international law, provided a moral choice was in fact
possible to him.
Principle V
Any person charged
with a crime under international law has the right to
a fair trial on the facts and law.
Principle Vl
The crimes hereinafter
set out are punishable as crimes under; international
law:
a. Crimes
against peace:
i. Planning, preparation,
initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war
in violation of international treaties, agreements or
assurances;
ii. Participation
in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment
of any of the acts mentioned under (i).
b. War crimes:
Violations of the
laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited
to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave-labor
or for any other purpose of civilian population of or
in occupied territory, murder or illtreatment of prisoners
of war, of persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder
of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities,
towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military
necessity.
c. Crimes
against humanity:
Murder, extermination,
enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done against
any civilian population, or persecutions on political,
racial or religious grounds, when such acts are done or
such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in
connection with any crime against peace or any war crime.
Principle VII
Complicity in the
commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a
crime against humanity as set forth in Principles VI is
a crime under international law. |
