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Criminal Liability and Viral Homicide – Can it Be Prosecuted as a Crime against Humanity?

Summary: 1. Introduction – 2. International Crimes stricto sensu and Viral Homicide. – 2.1. Viral Homicide and Cyberattacks. – 2.2. Can Viral Homicide Be Prosecuted as a Crime Against Humanity? – 2.2.1. Actus reus of Crime Against Humanity. – 2.2.2. Mens rea in the Crime Against Humanity. – 2.3. Can Viral Homicide Be Prosecuted as a Crime Against Humanity of Murder? – 2.4. Can Viral Homicide Be Prosecuted as ‘Other Inhumane Acts’ under Art. 7. 1. (k) – Would It Violate the Principle of nullum crimen sine lege ? – 2.4.1 The Principle of nullum crimen sine lege under Art. 22(2) of the Rome Statute. – 2.4.2. The lex certa Principle. – 3. Does the ICC Have Jurisdiction over Non- party State Nationals? – 3.1. Art. 12(2) (a) Requires That the Conduct in Question, not the Consequence, Takes Place in any Part of the Territory of a State Party. – 3.2. The ICC Does not have Universal Jurisdiction – 3.3. The Customary International Law Principle of ‘Effects Doctrine’ is Inapplicable. – 4. Concluding Remarks.

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  Background: One of the current topics at the international level is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed the lives of all people globally and caused economic and human losses. In legal scientific discourse, there are repercussions.

Methods: To uncover scientific knowledge and results, the authors apply qualitative research methods such as content analysis, the legal dogmatic method, and methods of induction and deduction. Essential tools that authors use in this research are primary legal texts of the International Criminal Court (ICC ) and other international treaties, as well as the case law of the ICC, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ad hoc and internationalised and mixed (hybrid) tribunals, and secondary legal sources.

Results and Conclusions: This paper is based on the hypothetical situation of the deliberate creation and spread of a pandemic that resulted in enormous human losses. The authors examine the central question, which is whether viral homicide could be prosecuted as a crime against humanity before the ICC. The authors conclude that existing provisions of Art. 7 of the Rome Statute could not be interpreted so broadly as to encompass viral homicide as a crime against humanity. Expanding the scope of Art. 7 of the Rome Statute to cover viral homicide would violate basic principles of criminal law such as nullum crimen sine lege and lex certa.

Abstract

 Background: One of the current topics at the international level is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed the lives of all people globally and caused economic and human losses. In legal scientific discourse, there are repercussions.

Methods: To uncover scientific knowledge and results, the authors apply qualitative research methods such as content analysis, the legal dogmatic method, and methods of induction and deduction. Essential tools that authors use in this research are primary legal texts of the International Criminal Court (ICC ) and other international treaties, as well as the case law of the ICC, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ad hoc and internationalised and mixed (hybrid) tribunals, and secondary legal sources.

Results and Conclusions: This paper is based on the hypothetical situation of the deliberate creation and spread of a pandemic that resulted in enormous human losses. The authors examine the central question, which is whether viral homicide could be prosecuted as a crime against humanity before the ICC. The authors conclude that existing provisions of Art. 7 of the Rome Statute could not be interpreted so broadly as to encompass viral homicide as a crime against humanity. Expanding the scope of Art. 7 of the Rome Statute to cover viral homicide would violate basic principles of criminal law such as nullum crimen sine lege and lex certa.

About Authors

 Enis Omerović

PhD in Public International Law and International Criminal Law, Associate Professor at Prince Sultan University, College of Law, Saudi Arabia
eomerovic@psu.edu.sa
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8211-9408  
Corresponding author, responsible for writing – original draft, writing – review & editing, methodology, formal analysis, project administration, supervision. Disclaimer: The authors declare that their opinions and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.

Mohammed Albakjaji

PhD in Public International Relations, Assistant Professor at Prince Sultan University, College of Law
mabkjaji@psu.edu.sa
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5160-0530
Co-author, responsible for writing – original draft, writing – review case studies, conceptualization, methodology. Competing interests: Dr. Albakjaji serves as a Guest Editor of the Special Issue, though he was not involved in peer review and was not able to impact it; for avoiding any bias the final decision concerning the publication was made by Dr. Maya Khater, who serves as a Guest Editor, and by Editor-in-Chief of the Journal.

Lejla Zilić-Čurić

LL.M and MA in Public Law, Senior Teaching and Research Assistant at University of Zenica, Faculty of Law, Criminal Law Department, Saudi Arabia
lejla.zilic@unze.ba
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4887-9187 
Co-author, responsible for writing – original draft, writing – review & editing, conceptualization, investigation, methodology.

Funding: The authors would like to thank the Governance and Policy Design Research Lab (GPDRL) and the Research and Initiatives Center (RIC) of Prince Sultan University for providing publication funding and incentives.

Managing editor – Dr. Olha Dunaievska. English Editor – Dr Sarah White.

Guest Editors of the Special Issue: Dr. Mohammed Albakjaji, Prince Sultan University, and Dr. Maya Khater, Al Yamamah University, Saudi Arabia.
Copyright: © 2023 Enis Omerović, Mohammed Albakjaji, Lejla Zilić-Čurić. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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 Еніс Омерович, Мохаммед Албакджаджі та Лейла Зіліч-Чуріч


АНОТАЦІЯ


Передумови. Однією з актуальних тем на міжнародному рівні є пандемія

COVID-19, яка змінила життя всіх людей у всьому світі та спричинила

економічні та людські втрати. У юридичному науковому дискурсі є резонанс.

Методи. Для виявлення наукових знань і результатів автори застосовують

якісні методи дослідження, як-от: контент-аналіз, юридичний догматичний

метод, а також методи індукції та дедукції. Основними інструментами, які

автори застосували в цьому дослідженні, є первинні юридичні тексти

Міжнародного кримінального суду (МКС) та інших міжнародних договорів, а

також прецедентне право МКС, Європейського суду з прав людини (ЄСПЛ),

Міжнародного суду ООН (ICJ), ad hoc та інтернаціоналізованих і змішаних

(гібридних) трибуналів, а також джерела вторинного права.

Результати та висновки. Ця робота базується на гіпотетичній ситуації

навмисного створення та поширення пандемії, яка призвела до величезних

людських втрат. Автори розглядають центральне питання, яке полягає в тому,

чи може вбивство, викликане вірусом, розглядатися в МКС як злочин проти

людяності. Автори дійшли висновку, що чинні положення ст. 7 Римського

статуту не можуть тлумачитися настільки широко, щоб охопити вірусне

вбивство як злочин проти людяності. Розширення сфери дії ст. 7 Римського

статуту на вірусне вбивство порушило б основні принципи кримінального

права, такі як nullum crimen sine lege та lex certa. Враховуючи характер і

тяжкість таких діянь, можна додати, що міжнародне кримінальне право має

реагувати на такі ситуації. Право є інструментом соціальної інженерії; тому

правові норми повинні відповідати соціальному контексту та подіям. Однією

з можливих відповідей є поправка до Римського статуту. Цей процес

криміналізував би такі дії як один із міжнародних злочинів (зважаючи на

характер, це може бути злочин проти людяності) та передбачав би

кримінальну відповідальність за такі дії, які включатимуть грубу недбалість

або необережність.

Keywords

  • COVID-19 pandemic, viral homicide, criminal responsibility, International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity, cyberattacks

Publication history

  •  Submitted on 12 Feb 2023 / Revised 28 Apr 2023 / Approved 03 May 2023 Published online: 31 May 2023 / Last published: 16 Jun 2023

How to cite it?

  •  E Omerović, M Albakjaji, L Zilić-Čurić ‘Criminal Liability and Viral Homicide – Can it Be Prosecuted as a Crime against Humanity?’ 2023 Special Issue Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 40-58. https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-6S018