| As shown by the trials of Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Taylor and Saddam Hussein, the large-scale and systematic commission of international crimes is usually planned and set in motion by senior political and military leaders. Nevertheless, the application of traditional forms of criminal liability leads to the conclusion that they are mere accessories to such crimes. This does not reflect their central role and often results in a punishment which is inappropriately low in view of the impact of their actions and omissions. For these reasons, international criminal law has placed special emphasis on the development of concepts, such as control of the crime and joint criminal enterprise (also known as the common purpose doctrine), which aim at reflecting better the central role played by senior political and military leaders in campaigns of large scale and systematic commission of international crimes. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the case law of the ICTY and the ICTR have, in recent years, played a unique role in the achievement of this goal.
Hector Olasolo's book is indispensible to anyone interested in bringing top leaders, political or military, to account for their complicity in crimes.
A.G. Noorani
Frontline
September 2009
Héctor Olásolo, Professor of International Criminal Law and Procedure at the University of Utrecht. LLM (Columbia University), PhD in Law (Salamanca University). He has been a Legal Officer in Chambers at the International Criminal Court (2004-2010), a member of the Legal Advisory and Appeal Sections of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (2002-2004), and a member of the Spanish Delegation to the International Criminal Court Preparatory Commission (1999-2002). The author has written the books entitled 'Corte Penal Internacional: ¿Dónde Investigar?' (Tirant lo Blanch, 2003), 'The Triggering Procedure of the International Criminal Court' (Brill Publishers, 2005), 'Ataques contra Personas y Bienes Civiles y Ataques Desproporcionados' (Tirant lo Blanch, 2006), 'Unlawful Attacks in Combat Situations' (Brill Publishers, 2007), 'Terrorismo Internacional y Conflicto Armado' (with Prof. A. I. Pérez Cepeda, Tirant lo Blanch, 2008) 'Ensayos sobre la Corte Penal Internacional' (Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá/Dyke, 2009), and ´Esstudios de Derecho Penal Internacional.´ The views expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICC, the ICTY, the United Nations or the Spanish Government.
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