SPECIAL PART

Chapter XI
Crimes Against Humanity

Title II
War Crimes

Violence Against the Civilian Population

Section 158

(1) The person who applies violence in an operational or occupied area against a civilian person or prisoner of war, displays inhuman treatment or otherwise gravely abuses his power, - unless a graver crime is realized - commits a felony and shall be punishable with imprisonment from five years to ten years.

(2) The punishment shall be imprisonment from ten years to fifteen years or life imprisonment, if the crime defined in subsection (1) causes death.

(3) For the purposes of this Section, inhuman treatment is in particular

a) settlement of the civilian population of the occupying power in the occupied territory, or resettlement of the population of the occupied territory,
b) deprivation of the civilian population and prisoners of war from their right to being tried in a regular and impartial procedure,
c) unjustified delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or civilian persons.

War-time Looting

Section 159

(1) The person who loots civilian goods in an operational or occupied territory, or causes grave detriment to the population by the enforcement of services or in another manner, - unless a graver crime is realized -, commits a felony, and shall be punishable with imprisonment from two years to eight years.

(2) The punishment shall be imprisonment from five years to ten years, if the crime is committed in an armed manner or in a group.

Sinful Warfare

Section 160

A military commander who, violating the rules of the international law of warfare

a) pursues war operation which causes serious damage in the life, health or goods of the civilian population, in internationally protected cultural goods, in facilities containing dangerous forces,
b) takes offensive against a locality without defence or a weapon-free zone,
commits a felony and shall be punishable with imprisonment from ten years to fifteen years, or life imprisonment.

Use of Weapons Prohibited by International Treaty

Section 160/A

(1) Any person who uses or orders the use of a weapon or instrument of war prohibited by international treaty in a theater of military operation or in an occupied territory against the enemy, civilians or prisoners of war commits a felony offense and shall be punishable with imprisonment between ten to fifteen years or life imprisonment.

(2) Any person who makes preparations for the use of a weapon prohibited by international treaty commits a felony offense and shall be punishable with imprisonment of up to five years.

(3) For the purposes of Subsections (1)-(2) the following shall be construed as weapons prohibited by international treaty :

a) asphyxiating, poisonous and other gases and bacteriological methods of warfare as set forth in the protocol signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, as promulgated by Law-Decree 20 of 1955,
b) the following weapons listed in the protocols to the convention signed at Geneva on 15 October 1985 on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects, as promulgated by Law-Decree 2 of 1984 :

1. weapons causing injury by fragments which cannot be detected by X-ray, as specified in Protocol I ,
2. mines, remotely-delivered mines, anti-personnel mines, booby-traps and other devices specified in Points 1-5 of Article 2 of the Amended Protocol II, as promulgated by Act CXXXIII of 1997,
3. incendiary weapons specified in Point 1 of Article 1 of Protocol III,
4. blinding laser weapons specified in Article 1 of the Supplementary Protocol IV,

c) chemical weapons and chemical instruments of war specified in Points 1 and 7 of Article 2 of the convention signed at Paris on 13 January 1993 on Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, as promulgated by Act CIV of 1997,
d) anti-personnel mines specified in Point 1 of Article 2 of the convention signed at Oslo on 18 September 1997 on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, as promulgated by Act X of 1998.

Battlefield Looting

Section 161

The person who loots the fallen, injured or sick people on the battlefield, commits a felony and shall be punishable with imprisonment from two years to eight years.

Infringement of Armistice

Section 162

(1) The person who infringes the conditions of armistice, commits a felony, and shall be punishable with imprisonment from one year to five years.

(2) The punishment shall be imprisonment from five years to ten years, if the infringement of the armistice leads to especially grave consequences.

Violence Against a War Emissary

Section 163

(1) The person who insults, illegally restrains the war emissary of the enemy or his companion, or otherwise applies violence against him, - unless a graver crime is realized -, commits a felony, and shall be punishable with imprisonment of up to three years.

(2) The person who kills a war emissary or his companion, shall be punishable with imprisonment from ten to fifteen years, or life imprisonment.

Misuse of the Red Cross

Section 164

That who in war-time misuses the sign of the red cross (red crescent, red lion and sun) or other signs serving a similar purpose and recognized internationally, or commits a violent act against a person or thing under the protection thereof, shall be punishable for a felony with imprisonment from one year to five years.

Other War Crimes

Section 165

A special legal rule (Decree No. 81/1945 (II.5.) ME, enacted by Act VII of 1945, amended and complemented by Decree No. 1440/1945 (V.1.) ME) shall provide for other war crimes.

Article 8
War crimes
2. For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:
(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.