CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 1
Object

The criminal law pertaining to violations of international humanitarian law, annexed hereto, is hereby adopted.

Chapter 1
General provisions

Article 1
Object

The present law defines crimes that constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and related offences.

Chapter 1
General provisions

Article 2
Definitions

For the purposes of the present law:

(a) An international armed conflict means a conflict which:

(i) Occurs between States, even without a formal declaration of war and even if the state of war is not recognised by one of them;
(ii) Relates to a situation of total or partial occupation of the territory of a State, even if this occupation meets with no armed resistance;
(iii) Arises from a situation in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination, alien occupation and segregationist regimes in the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States;

(b) An armed conflict of a non-international character means: a conflict that takes place on the territory of a State, which is sustained, and which occurs between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or among such groups, except for situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature;

Chapter II
Crimes

Section II
War crimes


Article 10
War crimes against person

1. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict, commits any of the following acts against a person protected by international humanitarian law:

(a) Murder;
(b) Torture or cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
(c) 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;
(d) Acts that cause great suffering or serious injury to body or health;
(e) Killing or wounding a combatant who has laid down his or her arms or who, no longer having any means of defence, has surrendered unconditionally or has been placed hors de combat by any cause;
(f) Taking of hostages;
(g) Acts described in subparagraph (g) of the preceding article that constitute a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions;
(h) Conscripting or enlisting children into a State’s armed forces or military or paramilitary forces, or into armed groups other than a State’s armed forces or military or paramilitary forces, or using them to participate in hostilities;
(i) Deportation or transfer, or unlawful confinement;
(j) Conviction and execution of sentence without a previous fair and impartial trial;
(l) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;

shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 10 to 25 years.

2. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict:

(a) Transfers, directly or indirectly, as the occupying power, part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or transfers all or part of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
(b) Compels prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power;
(c) After the cessation of hostilities, delays the repatriation of prisoners of war without justication;

shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 10 to 25 years.


Article 11
War crimes involving the employment of prohibited methods of warfare

Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict:

(a) Attacks the civilian population as such or individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(b) Attacks civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;
(c) Attacks, by whatever means, population centres, dwellings or buildings that are undefended and that are not military objectives;
(d) Launches an indiscriminate attack against the civilian population or civilian property in the knowledge that such attack will cause loss of human life, injury to civilians or excessive damage to civilian objects;
(e) Uses the presence of civilians or other protected persons to prevent specific locations, areas or military forces from being targeted by military operations;
(f) Intentionally uses starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions;
(g) Declares or threatens, as a person with official status, that no quarter will be given;
(h) Treacherously kills or wounds enemy combatants;
(i) Launches an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause 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;
(j) Commits perfidy, which means the act of killing, injuring or capturing by inviting, with intent to betray, the confidence of an adversary that he or she is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under rules of international humanitarian law;

shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 10 to 25 years.


Article 12
War crimes involving the employment of prohibited means of warfare

1. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict, employs 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, shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 10 to 25 years.

2. The preceding paragraph relates, in particular, to the employment of:

(a) Poison or poisoned weapons;
(b) Asphyxiating, toxic or similar gases or any analogous liquid, material or device;
(c) Bullets that 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;
(d) Anti-personnel mines in violation of the provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, ratified by Decree of the President of the Republic No. 64/99 of 28 January;
(e) Chemical weapons in violation of the provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, ratified by Decree of the President of the Republic No. 25-C/96 of 23 July;
(f) Weapons the primary effect of which is to injure by fragments which in the human body escape detection by X-rays, in violation of the provisions of Protocol I Additional to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, concerning non-detectable fragments, ratified by Decree of the President of the Republic No. 1/97 of 13 January;
(g) Incendiary weapons, in violation of the provisions of Protocol III Additional to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, concerning prohibitions or restrictions on the use of incendiary weapons, ratified by Decree of the President of the Republic No. 1/97 of 13 January;
(h) Laser weapons that cause blindness, in violation of the provisions of Protocol IV Additional to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, concerning blinding laser weapons, ratified by Decree of the President of the Republic No. 38/2001 of 13 July.


Article 13
War crimes against objects protected by distinctive insignia or emblems

Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict, attacks:

(a) Personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a peacekeeping or humanitarian assistance mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, where the latter are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;
(b) Buildings, installations, material, units or vehicles, duly marked with the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, or personnel authorised to use such emblems;

shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 10 to 20 years.


Article 14
Improper use of distinctive insignia or emblems

1. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict, improperly uses, with perfidious intent, a flag of truce, a national flag, the military insignia or uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, or the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, thereby causing death or serious injury, shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 10 to 25 years.

2. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict, commits the acts described in the preceding paragraph, but without perfidious intent, shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 1 to 5 years.


Article 15
War crimes against property

1. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict:

(a) Appropriates, destroys or damages property on a large scale or of great value, in a manner not justified by military necessity or carried out unlawfully or wantonly;
(b) Attacks, destroys or damages buildings used for religious worship, education, the arts, science or charitable purposes, cultural or historical monuments, archaeological sites, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used for military purposes;
(c) Pillages a town or place, even when taken by assault;

shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 5 to 15 years.


Article 16
War crimes against other rights

1. Anyone who, in the context of an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict, declares abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law any rights and procedures of the nationals of the hostile party shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of 5 to 15 years.

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.