CAMBODIA – PENAL CODE

BOOK ONE - GENERAL PROVISIONS

TITLE 1 - THE CRIMINAL LAW

CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Article 8: No impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian law

The provisions of this Code may not have the effect of denying justice to the victims of serious offences which, under special legislation, are characterised as violations of international humanitarian law, international custom, or international conventions recognised by the Kingdom of Cambodia.

CAMBODIA – PENAL CODE

BOOK ONE - GENERAL PROVISIONS

TITLE 2 - CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

CHAPTER 2 - EXCLUSION OF OR DIMINISHED CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

Article 32: Authorisation by law or lawful authority
A person shall not be criminally responsible if he or she performs an act prescribed or authorised by law.

A person shall not be criminally responsible if he or she performs an act ordered
by a lawful authority, unless the act was manifestly unlawful.

The perpetrator, co-perpetrator, instigator, or accomplice of genocide, or of a crime against humanity, or a war crime shall not, under any circumstances, be excused from criminal responsibility on the ground that:

(1) he or she committed an act prescribed, authorised or not prohibited by the law in force:
(2) he or she acted by order of a lawful authority.

CAMBODIA – PENAL CODE

BOOK 2 - CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS

TITLE 1 - GENOCIDE, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, WAR CRIMES

CHAPTER 3 - WAR CRIMES

Article 193: Definition of war crimes
"War crime" shall mean any of the following acts directed against persons or property protected by the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949:
(1) murder;
(2) torture or other inhuman treatment including biological experiments;
(3) wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
(4) extensive destruction or appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly:
(5) compelling a prisoner of war or a civilian to serve in the forces of a hostile power;
(6) depriving a prisoner of war or a civilian of the rights of fair and regular trial;
(7) unlawful deportation, transfer or confinement of a civilian;
(8) taking of civilian hostages.



Article 194: Other war crimes
Any of the following acts also constitutes a war crime if it is committed during an international or non-international armed conflict:
(1) employing poisonous weapons or other weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering:
(2) intentionally attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, undefended towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are not military objectives:
(3) intentionally attacking personnel or material involved in a humanitarian mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations:
(4) intentionally starving civilians by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival;
(5) utilizing civilians to render certain buildings, areas of the territory or military forces immune from military operations;
(6) intentionally destroying or damaging buildings dedicated to religion, charitable purposes, education, art, science, historic monuments, artistic works or scientific works;
(7) causing widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated:
(8) plunder of public or private property.

Article 195: Penalty
A war crime shall be punishable by life imprisonment.

Article 196: Planning or war crimes
Participation in a group formed or in a conspiracy to plan a war crime shall be punishable by imprisonment from twenty to thirty years.

The planning must be characterised by one or more material acts.

Article 197: Additional penalties (nature and duration)
The following additional penalties may be imposed in respect of the felonies defined in this Chapter:

(1) forfeiture of certain rights, either permanently or for a period not exceeding five years:

(2) prohibition from practising a profession in the practice of or in connection with which the offence was committed, either permanently or for a period not exceeding five years;

(3) local exclusion for a period not exceeding ten years;

(4) prohibition from leaving the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia for a period

(5) prohibition of a convicted alien from entering and remaining in the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia, either permanently or for a period not exceeding five years;

(6) confiscation of any instruments, materials or items which were used or intended to be used to commit the offence;

(7) prohibition from possessing or carrying any weapon, explosive or ammunition of any kind, either permanently or for a period not exceeding Live years;

(8) publication of sentencing decision for a period not exceeding two months:

(9) publication of sentencing decision in the print media;

(10) broadcasting of sentencing decision by any audio-visual communication for a period not exceeding eight days.

Article 198: Criminal responsibility of legal entities
Legal entities may be found criminally responsible under Article 42 (Criminal responsibility of legal entities) of this Code for the offences defined in Article 193 (War crimes), Article 194 (Other war crimes) and Article 196 Planning of war crimes) of this Code.

Legal entities shall be punishable by a Fine from fifty million to five hundred million Riels and by one or more of the following additional penalties:

(1) dissolution pursuant to Article 170 (Dissolution and liquidation of legal entities) of this Code:

(2) placement under judicial supervision pursuant to Article 171 (Placement under judicial supervision) of this Code:

(3) prohibition from exercising one or more activities pursuant to Article 172 (Prohibition from carrying on activities) of this Code:

(4) disqualification from public tenders pursuant to Article 173 (Disqualification from public tenders) of this Code;

(5) prohibition from making a public offering pursuant to Article 174 (Prohibition from making a public offering) of this Code;

(6) publication of sentencing decision pursuant to Article 180 (Publication of decisions) of this Code;

(7) publication of sentencing decision in the print media or broadcasting of sentencing decision by any audio-visual communication pursuant to Article 181 (Broadcasting of decision by audiovisual communication) of this Code.

Article 5
Crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court
1. The jurisdiction of the Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of concern to the
international community as a whole. The Court has jurisdiction in accordance with this Statute
with respect to the following crimes:
(c) War crimes

Article 8
War crimes
1. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.
2. For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:
(a) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:
(i) Wilful killing;
(ii) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
(iii) Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
(iv) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
(v) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
(vi) Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
(vii) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;
(viii) Taking of hostages.
(b) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(ii) Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;
(iii) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;
(iv) Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;
(v) Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives;
(vi) Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;
(vii) Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, resulting in death or serious personal injury;
(viii) The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
(ix) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives;
(x) Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;
(xi) Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;
(xii) Declaring that no quarter will be given;
(xiii) Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;
(xiv) Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;
(xv) Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war;
(xvi) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
(xvii) Employing poison or poisoned weapons;
(xviii) Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices;
(xix) Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions;
(xx) Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict, provided that such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the relevant provisions set forth in articles 121 and 123;
(xxi) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(xxii) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions;
(xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
(xxiv) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;
(xxv) Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions;
(xxvi) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities.
(c) In the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, serious violations of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause:
(i) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(ii) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(iii) Taking of hostages;
(iv) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable.
(d) Paragraph 2 (c) applies to armed conflicts not of an international character and thus does not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature.
(e) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(ii) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;
(iii) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;
(iv) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives;
(v) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
(vi) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, and any other form of sexual violence also constituting a serious violation of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions;
(vii) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities;
(viii) Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand;
(ix) Killing or wounding treacherously a combatant adversary;
(x) Declaring that no quarter will be given;
(xi) Subjecting persons who are in the power of another party to the conflict to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;
(xii) Destroying or seizing the property of an adversary unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of the conflict;
(f) Paragraph 2 (e) applies to armed conflicts not of an international character and thus does not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature. It applies to armed conflicts that take place in the territory of a State when there is protracted armed conflict between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups.
3. Nothing in paragraph 2 (c) and (e) shall affect the responsibility of a Government to maintain or re-establish law and order in the State or to defend the unity and territorial integrity of the State, by all legitimate means.