On the Application of a Theory of Indirect Perpetration in Al Bashir

摘要

In his application for the issuance of an arrest warrant against the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court argued that Al Bashir did not physically or directly carry out genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes but committed these crimes through members of the state apparatus, the army and the militia. It is the first time that a prosecutor before an international tribunal exclusively bases the charges on the concept of perpetration-by-means. This comment discusses the Prosecutor's application, explores the appearance of the theory of indirect perpetration in international law, and tracks down the roots of the theory of perpetration-by-means of a hierarchical organization in German criminal law. The authors find that charging Al Bashir as an indirect perpetrator appears to be an appropriate description of his involvement in the alleged crimes indeed, given the explicit inclusion of perpetration-by-means in Article 25(3)(a) ICC Statute and the interpretation of Article 25(3) by the Pre-Trial Chamber in Lubanga as well as, most recently, in Katanga and Chui. They further submit that the concept of indirect perpetration could possibly become a key mode of liability in international criminal law.