THE INFLUENCE OF LEIPZIG TRIALS ON THE CONCEPT OF INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

THE INFLUENCE OF LEIPZIG TRIALS ON THE CONCEPT OF INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

The main aim of presented scientific paper is to outline the importance of International Criminal Justice and Individual Criminal Responsibility. The principle of international criminal responsibility was not always of the same content. It has changed with the development of international law and is one of the most important institutions currently aimed at strengthening international peace and security. The necessity of international criminal responsibility for serious breaches of international law is caused by the importance of human values. The paper discusses grave breaches committed during First World War and their legal consequences. According to treaty of Versailles, war criminals would be tried before the military tribunal comprised of judges from the country in which the crime occurred. The idea of an international court administering justice to war criminals appeared noble, but there was no unified position between the Allies on the specific issues. This was the main reason why Germans insisted to bring to trial all war criminals in German Court under the German Legislation. Author reviews several significant cases held in Leipzig Court and according to decisions assess the deterrent effect of the trials, their impact on the further development of international humanitarian law, international criminal justice and on the concept of individual criminal responsibility.

___

  • BRGSAMO M., Historical Origins of International Criminal Law: Volume 1, FICHL Publication Series No. 20 (2014), Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, Brussels, 2014.
  • BROWNLIE I., Principles of Public International Law (7th Edition), Oxford University Press, New York, 2008.
  • CASSESE A., International Criminal Law, Oxford University Press, New York, 2008.
  • GARNER B. A., Black’s Law Dictionary, 9th edition, West, St. Paul, 2009 https://www.polskawalczaca.com/library/a.blackslaw4th.pdf.
  • “German War Trials: Judgement in the Case of Karl Heynen”, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 16. No. 4 (Oct. 1922), p. 680 www.jstor.org/stable/2187590.
  • HENKEL G., Leipzig War Crimes Trials, International Encyclopedia of the First World War 1914-1918, updated 21 October 2016, https://encyclopedia.1914- 1918online.net/article/leipzig_war_crimes_trials.
  • HULL I., Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and The practices of War in imperial Germany, Cornel University Press, 2005.
  • JIKIA M., Legal Status of Individual in Modern International Law, Tbilisi, 2011.
  • JONES H., “A Missing Paradigm? Military Captivity and the Prisoner of War, 1914-1918”, Immigrants &Minorities, N1/2 (March/July, 2008).
  • KRAMER A., “The First Wave of International War Crimes Trials: Istanbul and Leipzig”, European Review 14, no. 4 (2006).
  • LIPKES J., Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914, Leuven University Press, 2007.
  • MULLINS Cl., The Leipzig Trials: An Account of the War Criminals’ Trials and a Study of German Mentality, London, 1921.
  • ORMEROD D., Smith and Hogan’s Criminal Law, 13th edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011.
  • RONDELI A., I World War, Tbilisi, 2014 https://gfsis.org/files/my-world/3/omi.pdf (access date: 26/11/2018).
  • SHAW M.N., International Law, (6th edition), Cambridge University Press, UK, 2008.
  • “The British Cases”, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 16, No. 4 (October, 1922) https://doi.org/10.1017/S0002930000209354.
  • VICK A.M., A Catalyst for the development of human rights: German internment practices in the First World War, 1914-1929, Blacksburg, Virginia, 2013.
  • WILLIS J.M., Prologue to Nuremburg: The Politics and Diplomacy of Punishing War Criminals of the First World War, Greenwood Press, 1982.
  • WILLMOTT H.P., World War I, New York: Dorling Kindersly Limited, 2009.
  • Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded in Armies in the Field (1864) https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/120?OpenDocument.
  • Hague Conventions respecting laws and customs of war on land (1899, 1907) https://ihl- databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/195.
  • Treaty of Peace with Germany (Treaty of Versailles) (1919) https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m- ust000002-0043.pdf.
  • ICTY, Appeals Chamber, Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, IT-94-I-T (Tadić case), 2 October 1995 http://www.legal- tools.org/doc/866e17/.
İstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi dergisi-Cover
  • ISSN: 2757-7082
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 2 Sayı
  • Başlangıç: 2016
  • Yayıncı: İSTANBUL MEDENİYET ÜNİVERSİTESİ > HUKUK FAKÜLTESİ