CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 157a

(1) Whoever violates the rules of international law in time of war, armed conflict or occupation and orders an attack against the civilian population, settlements, individual civilians or those hors de combat resulting in death, severe bodily harm or serious damage to people's health, orders an indiscriminate attack harming the civilian population, orders the killing, torturing or inhuman treatment of civilians, orders civilians to be subjected to biological, medical or other scientific experiments, their tissues or organs taken for transplantation, orders civilians to be subjected to great suffering impairing the integrity of their bodies or health, or orders their resettlement, displacement or forceful loss of ethnic identity or conversion to another religion, orders rape, sexual oppression, forced prostitution, pregnancy or sterilization or other sexual abuse, orders measures of intimidation or terror, hostage taking, collective punishment, unlawful deportations to concentration camps or illegal detention, deprives people of the rights to a just and unbiased trial, forces them to serve in hostile armed forces or in the information services or administration of a hostile power, subjects them to forced labor, starvation, confiscates property or orders that the population’s property be plundered or illegally and wantonly destroyed or its large-scale appropriation where there is no justification by military needs, or imposes illegal and disproportionately large contributions and requisitions, or decreases the value of the domestic currency or unlawfully issues it, or orders an attack against persons, equipment, materials, units or vehicles involved in humanitarian aid or a peace mission pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, or orders that the rights and actions of the citizens of a hostile country be prohibited, suspended or pronounced unlawful in court proceedings, or injures personal dignity or orders civilians and other protected persons to be used to shield certain places, areas or military forces from military operations, or orders the recruitment of children under fifteen years of age for the national armed forces or their active participation in hostilities, or whoever commits any of the foregoing acts shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years or by long-term imprisonment.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 158

(1) Whoever violates the rules of international law in time of war, armed conflict or occupation and orders an attack against the civilian population, settlements, individual civilians or those hors de combat resulting in death, severe bodily harm or serious damage to people's health, orders an indiscriminate attack harming the civilian population, orders the killing, torturing or inhuman treatment of civilians, orders civilians to be subjected to biological, medical or other scientific experiments, their tissues or organs taken for transplantation, orders civilians to be subjected to great suffering impairing the integrity of their bodies or health, or orders their resettlement, displacement or forceful loss of ethnic identity or conversion to another religion, orders rape, sexual oppression, forced prostitution, pregnancy or sterilization or other sexual abuse, orders measures of intimidation or terror, hostage taking, collective punishment, unlawful deportations to concentration camps or illegal detention, deprives people of the rights to a just and unbiased trial, forces them to serve in hostile armed forces or in the information services or administration of a hostile power, subjects them to forced labor, starvation, confiscates property or orders that the population’s property be plundered or illegally and wantonly destroyed or its large-scale appropriation where there is no justification by military needs, or imposes illegal and disproportionately large contributions and requisitions, or decreases the value of the domestic currency or unlawfully issues it, or orders an attack against persons, equipment, materials, units or vehicles involved in humanitarian aid or a peace mission pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, or orders that the rights and actions of the citizens of a hostile country be prohibited, suspended or pronounced unlawful in court proceedings, or injures personal dignity or orders civilians and other protected persons to be used to shield certain places, areas or military forces from military operations, or orders the recruitment of children under fifteen years of age for the national armed forces or their active participation in hostilities, or whoever commits any of the foregoing acts shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years or by long-term imprisonment.

The same punishment as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be imposed on whoever violates the rules of international law in time of war, armed conflict or occupation by ordering an attack against objects protected by international law, against works or powerful installations such as dams, dykes and nuclear power plants, indiscriminate attacks against civilian objects protected by international law, against undefended places and demilitarized zones or orders an attack which results in an extensive and long-lasting damage to the environment and may impair the population’s health or survival, or whoever commits any of the foregoing acts.

Whoever, as an occupying power, violates the rules of international law, in time of war, armed conflict or occupation, orders or carries out the resettlement of parts of the civilian population of the occupying power to an occupied territory shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 159

Article 159

Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, in time of war or armed conflict, orders the killing, torturing or inhuman treatment of the wounded, sick, shipwrecked persons or of medical or religious personnel, orders that they be subjected to biological and other scientific experiments, their tissues or organs taken for transplantation, orders civilians to be subjected to great suffering, impairing the integrity of their bodies or health or orders an illegal and wanton, large-scale destruction or appropriation of materials, medical vehicles or supplies of medical institutions or units when there is no justification by military needs or whoever commits any of the foregoing acts shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years or by long-term imprisonment.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 160

Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, orders the killing, torturing or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war and their subjection to biological, medical or other scientific experiments, their tissues or organs taken for transplantation, orders prisoners of war to be subjected to great suffering, impairing the integrity of their bodies and health, or whoever compels prisoners of war to serve in hostile armed forces or deprives them of their right to a fair and unbiased trial, or whoever commits any of the foregoing acts shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years or by long-term imprisonment.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 161

(1) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, in time of war or armed conflict, kills or wounds an enemy who has laid down arms, or has surrendered at discretion, or has no longer any means of defense, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than three years.

(2) If the killing referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is committed in a particularly cruel or treacherous way, from greed or other base motives, or if several persons are killed, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten years or by long-term imprisonment.

(3) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, in time of war or armed conflict, orders that in a battle there shall be no surviving members of the enemy or who engages in a battle against the enemy with the same objective shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years or by long-term imprisonment.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 162

(1) Whoever orders the unlawful taking of the personal belongings of those killed or wounded on the battlefield or whoever takes such belongings shall be punished by imprisonment for one to five years.

(2) If the criminal offense referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is committed in a cruel way, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for one to ten years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 163

(1) Whoever makes or improves, produces, stores, offers for sale or buys, or intermediates in a purchase or sale, possesses, transfers, or transports chemical or biological weapons, or some other means of combat prohibited by the rules of international law, shall be punished by imprisonment for three months to three years.

(2) Whoever, at a time of war or armed conflict, orders the use of chemical or biological weapons, or the means or methods of combat prohibited by the rules of international law, or whoever uses such weapons, means or methods, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year.

(3) If, by the criminal offense referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, the death of several persons is caused, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five years or by long term imprisonment.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 164

(1) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, in time of war or armed conflict, insults, maltreats or restrains an intermediary or his escort or prevents their return or in some other way infringes their inviolability shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to five years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 165

Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, brutally treats the wounded, sick or prisoners of war or restricts or prevents the realization of the rights granted to them under these rules shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to five years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 166

Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, after the termination of a war or armed conflict, orders or imposes an unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or civilians shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to five years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 167

(1) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, in time of war or armed conflict, destroys cultural objects or facilities dedicated to science, art, education or those established for humanitarian purposes shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year.

(2) If, by the criminal offense referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, a clearly recognizable facility is destroyed which belongs to the cultural and spiritual heritage of the people and which is under the special protection of international law, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for five to fifteen years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (xiii) - CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST VALUES PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW

Article 168

(1) Whoever misuses or carries without authorization the flag or emblem of the United Nations or the International Red Cross or any of their symbols or other recognized international signs used to mark objects for the purpose of protection against military operations shall be punished by imprisonment for three months to three years.

(2) Whoever commits the criminal offense referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in an area of military operations shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to five years.

CROATIA CRIMINAL CODE

SPECIAL PART

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX (xxvi) CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Article 388

There shall be no criminal offense if an act is committed by a subordinate pursuant to an order from his superior given in the line of official duty, except if such an order relates to the perpetration of a war crime or another criminal offense for which, according to law, imprisonment for ten years or a more severe punishment may be imposed, or if it is obvious that by obeying such an order a criminal offense would be committed.