Doctoral Thesis A Comparative Approach to Normative Elements in the Definition of International Crimes Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of “Doctor iuris” at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau presented by Matthias Cernusca Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Walter Perron Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Michael Pawlik, LL.M. (Cantab.) Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 29./30.01.2018 Dekan: Prof. Dr. Boris P. Paal, M.Jur. (Oxford) Rektor: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Jochen Schiewer Dissertationsort: Freiburg im Breisgau Erscheinungsjahr: 2018 2 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1 –INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 9 1. Setting the scene ....................................................................................................... 9 a. The legal context of the dissertation ...................................................................... 9 b. Examples of mistakes about normative elements ................................................ 11 2. Course of the research and its aims ..................................................................... 13 3. Research methods .................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER 2 - INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW AND NORMATIVE ELEMENTS. THE ICC AND (MISTAKES ABOUT) NORMATIVE ELEMENTS DE LEGE LATA ............................................................................................................................ 17 1. Mens rea on its way into the Rome Statute .............................................................. 17 2. The so-called “elements analysis” approach of the Rome Statute ......................... 19 3. The three different categories of material elements ................................................ 20 4. Material elements that do not need a corresponding mental element ................... 23 5. On the differentiation between material elements and mental elements ............... 24 6. Art. 30 ........................................................................................................................... 26 7. The “unless otherwise provided” threshold in Art. 30 ............................................ 31 a. Deviations in the Statute ...................................................................................... 31 b. Deviations stipulated in international customary law .......................................... 33 c. Deviations stemming from general principles of law derived from national laws ...................................................................................................................... 37 d. Deviations in the Elements of Crimes ................................................................. 38 e. Excursus: On the normative force of the Elements of Crimes ............................. 40 f. Do the Elements of Crimes fall within the “unless otherwise provided” threshold? ...................................................................................................................... 47 8. The default rule of Art. 30 in respect of legal elements, and the further path of the research ............................................................................................................................ 51 3 9. Mental standards in the Elements of Crimes that have an impact on the mental requirement for legal elements ...................................................................................... 52 a. Paragraph 3 of the General Introduction to the Elements of Crimes – Evidence rule ................................................................................................................ 52 b. Paragraph 4 of the General Introduction to the Elements of Crimes – Value judgements .................................................................................................... 56 c. Art. 8 bis ............................................................................................................... 70 d. Protected status .................................................................................................... 71 e. Contextual elements ............................................................................................. 75 10. Mistakes as to contextual elements of war crimes ................................................. 86 a. Legal and factual awareness of an “armed conflict” in general ........................... 88 b. Legal and factual awareness of the armed conflict’s character as international or non-international ........................................................................................... 92 c. Different mistake constellations, “double mistakes” ........................................... 98 11. Mistakes under the ICC Statute – an introduction .............................................. 108 12. History of mistakes in international criminal law ............................................... 109 a. The beginnings and the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials .................................... 109 b. The Statutes of the ICTY and the ICTR ............................................................ 118 c. Drafting history of the mistake provision leading to the Rome Statute’s mistake clause .......................................................................................................... 118 13. Art. 32(1) ICC Statute – Mistakes of fact ............................................................. 126 a. Superfluity approach .......................................................................................... 126 b. What is the range of applicability for Art. 32(1)? What are factual mistakes? . 128 c. Onus of proof ..................................................................................................... 132 d. Criteria of plausibility, honesty and credibility of the mistake of fact .............. 132 e. Consequences of a mistake of fact; negligence liability .................................... 133 f. Consequences of the term “only” – mistakes about factual grounds that exclude criminal liability .......................................................................................... 135 14. Mistake of law ......................................................................................................... 138 a. Mistakes about the jurisdiction of the ICC ........................................................ 139 b. Mistakes about the punishability ....................................................................... 140 4 c. Mistakes about the unlawfulness of the conduct ............................................... 142 d. The relation between the principle of legality and mistakes of unlawfulness ... 146 e. Admittance of mistakes of unlawfulness; blameworthiness-standard ............... 149 f. Mistake of legal (normative) elements ............................................................... 152 g. Consequences of a mistake according to Art. 32(2)(2) – debate on the term “may” .......................................................................................................... 153 h. Practical impact – the problem of automatic impunity ...................................... 155 i. Mistake about the unlawfulness negating intent ................................................. 157 j. Undertakings by the drafters in the Elements of Crimes to avoid the automatic impunity consequence ................................................................................ 161 k. Abundance of legal elements left that trigger automatic impunity .................... 170 l. Commentators’ approaches – reduced mental thresholds for legal elements ..... 174 m. The mistake doctrine of the Lubanga confirmation decision ........................... 179 n. Personal critique on the Court’s implementation of the parallel layman’s evaluation test ............................................................................................. 181 15. The mishaps in the mistake of law rule in Art. 33 ............................................... 186 16. Concluding remarks on the mishaps of the ICC’s current mistake doctrine ... 188 CHAPTER 3 - DOCTRINE ON NORMATIVE ELEMENTS AND MISTAKES ON NORMATIVE ELEMENTS IN NATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW ................. FEHLER! TEXTMARKE NICHT DEFINIERT. 1. English law ................................................................................................................. 192 a. General introduction .......................................................................................... 192 b. Strict liability ..................................................................................................... 193 c. Underlying rationale for mistakes of law– Ignorantia legis neminem excusat .. 195 d. Excursus: Mistake of facts ................................................................................. 197 e. Mistake as to the applicability of a legal norm considered as “fact” to be decided by the jury? ................................................................................................. 200 f. When might mistakes as to legal elements exculpate? ....................................... 202 g. Tendencies for culpability approaches .............................................................