'Crimes against humanity' in document 'Spain - Criminal Code (ENG)'

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RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION

BOOK I
General provisions on felonies and misdemeanours, the persons responsible, the penalties, security measures and other consequences of criminal offences

TITLE XXIV
Crimes against the International Community

CHAPTER II BIS
On crimes against humanity

Article 607 bis

1. Conviction for crimes against humanity shall befall whoever commits the acts foreseen in the following Section as part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civil population or against part thereof .

In all cases, committing such acts shall be deemed a crime against humanity when :

1. Due to the victim pertaining to a group or community persecuted for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or another kind of reasons, disability, or other motives universally recognised as unacceptable under International Law ;
2. In the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination of a racial group over one or more racial groups and with the intention of maintaining such a regime.

2. Those convicted of crimes against humanity shall be punished :

1. With a sentence of imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years if they cause the death of any person. A punishment higher in one degree shall be imposed if any of the circumstances foreseen in Article 139 concur ;
2. With a sentence of imprisonment from twelve to fifteen years if they commit rape, and from four to six years imprisonment if the act were to consist of any other type of sexual assault ;
3. With a sentence of imprisonment from twelve to fifteen years if any of the injuries of Article 149 were to take place and from eight to twelve years imprisonment if persons are subjected to conditions of existence that endanger their life or seriously affect their health, or when they are caused any of the injuries foreseen in Article 150. A sentence of imprisonment from four to eight years shall be applied if they commit any of the injuries of Article 147 ;
4. With a sentence of imprisonment from eight to twelve years if they deport or forcibly transport one or more persons from one State or place to another, by expulsion or other acts of coercion without authorised reasons ;
5. With a sentence of imprisonment from six to eight years if they were to forcibly make pregnant any woman in order to modify the ethnic composition of the population, without prejudice to the relevant punishment, as appropriate, for other felonies ;
6. With a sentence of imprisonment from twelve to fifteen years when they detain any person and refuse to recognise that custodial sentence or to report on the situation or whereabouts of the person arrested ;
7. With a sentence of imprisonment from eight to twelve years if they were to arrest a person, depriving him of his liberty, with breach of the international rules on arrest.
The punishment shall be imposed at a lower degree when the arrest lasts less than fifteen days ;
8. With the punishment from four to eight years imprisonment if they commit serious torture of persons they have under their custody or control and of imprisonment from two to six years if less serious. For the purposes of this Article, torture shall be construed as submitting a person to physical or mental suffering. The punishment foreseen in this Sub-Section shall be imposed without prejudice to the relevant penalties, as appropriate, for the violations of other rights of the victim ;
9. With a sentence of imprisonment from four to eight years if they commit any of the conducts related to prostitution defined in Article 187.1, and with that of six to eight years in the cases foreseen in Article 188.1. The punishment shall be imposed from six to eight years on whoever transports persons from one place to another with the intent to sexually exploit them, using violence, intimidation or deceit, or abusing a situation of superiority or need or the vulnerability of the victim. When the conduct foreseen in the preceding Section and in Article 188.1 is committed against minors or the incapacitated, the higher degree penalties shall be imposed ;
10. With a sentence of imprisonment from four to eight years if any person is subjected to slavery or kept in servitude. The punishment shall be applied without prejudice to the appropriate ones for the specific violations committed against the rights of persons. Slavery shall be construed as the situation of a person over whom another exercises, albeit de facto, all and some of the attributes of the right of property, such as buying, selling, lending or exchanging such person.

RELEVANT ROME STATUTE PROVISIONS

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:
(b) Crimes against humanity

Article 7
Crimes against humanity
1. For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1:
(a) "Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack;
(b) "Extermination" includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population;
(c) "Enslavement" means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children;
(d) "Deportation or forcible transfer of population" means forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law;
(e) "Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions;
(f) "Forced pregnancy" means the unlawful confinement of a woman forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law. This definition shall not in any way be interpreted as affecting national laws relating to pregnancy;
(g) "Persecution" means the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity;
(h) "The crime of apartheid" means inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime;
(i) "Enforced disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.
3. For the purpose of this Statute, it is understood that the term "gender" refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term "gender" does not indicate any meaning different from the above.