Uluslararası Suçlar ve Tarih

Yazarlar: Van Regemorter MAÏTÉ

Konular:-

Anahtar Kelimeler:Characterisation (of an armed conflict),Internationalisation,Lumumba,War crime

Özet: The family of Patrice Lumumba is planning to lodge a complaintin Belgium against twelve Belgian officers who allegedly participated in hismurder. How does, or rather how did, international humanitarian law dealwith such a crime? Since Lumumba died more than fifty years ago, thiscomplaint could only trigger Belgian Courts’ jurisdiction if his death wasfound to be a war crime given the imprescriptible nature of such crime. Asin 1961 war crimes could only occur in international armed conflict, thedetermination of the international or the non-international character of theconflict is crucial. Will the characterisation of the conflict be an easy taskfor the judge? This paper illustrates the difficulties a national judge mayface in applying notions of international humanitarian law given theprinciple of non-retroactivity, the need to carefully identify the partiesinvolved in the conflict and the uncertainties surrounding the concept of“internationalised non-international armed conflict”. Why examine thisissue now? If Lumumba’s death may seem far away, it is still a highlysensitive issue in Congo and in Belgium. Furthermore, the growing interestfor the right to truth may likely lead to the excavation of such otherunresolved and controversial crimes elsewhere

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