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Part IV The ICC and its Applicable Law, 22 Indirect Perpetration

Thomas Weigend

From: The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court

Edited By: Carsten Stahn

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 26 March 2023

Subject(s):
International criminal law — Customary international law

Indirect perpetration is a mode of perpetration provided for in Article 25(3)(a) of the ICC Statute. According to the Statute, indirect perpetration requires that the perpetrator commits the offence ‘through another person’, regardless of whether that other person is criminally responsible. Drawing partly on German doctrine, the ICC has interpreted the concept of indirect perpetration to include using a hierarchical organization for making another person commit a crime (organizational control). The Court has also recognized the possibility that several persons jointly commit a crime as indirect perpetrators (indirect co-perpetration). This expansive view has raised objections inside and outside the ICC. The criticism of indirect co-perpetration does not seem justified, but it may be preferable to apply the concept of indirect perpetration without resorting to an organization as a means of control over another person’s will.

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