Abstract
The thesis focuses on the core of the ICC jurisdiction and specifically in the three pillars which form the foundations of its jurisdiction: 1) the preconditions to the exercise of its jurisdiction (Art. 12 ICC Rome Statute) 2) the scope of its jurisdiction - substantive competence, i.e. the core crimes defined in the Rome Statute (Art. 5-8bis, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crime of aggression) 3) the principle of complementarity which governs according to the Rome Statute the "ultimate jurisdiction" of the ICC, since it is not sufficient a crime to be within the Court's jurisdiction (according to its specified material, local, personal and temporal jurisdiction), but the State Party must also be unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution (Art. 17§1 (a) ICC Rome Statute). Moreover, beyond the examination of the three central pillars of ICC’s jurisdiction, which are linked with the “positive jurisdiction” of the Court, it was dee ...
The thesis focuses on the core of the ICC jurisdiction and specifically in the three pillars which form the foundations of its jurisdiction: 1) the preconditions to the exercise of its jurisdiction (Art. 12 ICC Rome Statute) 2) the scope of its jurisdiction - substantive competence, i.e. the core crimes defined in the Rome Statute (Art. 5-8bis, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crime of aggression) 3) the principle of complementarity which governs according to the Rome Statute the "ultimate jurisdiction" of the ICC, since it is not sufficient a crime to be within the Court's jurisdiction (according to its specified material, local, personal and temporal jurisdiction), but the State Party must also be unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution (Art. 17§1 (a) ICC Rome Statute). Moreover, beyond the examination of the three central pillars of ICC’s jurisdiction, which are linked with the “positive jurisdiction” of the Court, it was deemed appropriate to analyse the main "negative preconditions” for the exercise of ICC jurisdiction, namely the issue of immunities (art. 27 ICC Rome Statute under the title irrelevance of official capacity), as well as the attempted exceptions of the ICC jurisdiction via the Security Council referrals of Sudan and Libya situations.The examination of the three central pillars that delineate the jurisdiction of the ICC and the critical issue of immunities / Security Council resolutions was deemed absolutely necessary in order a holistic examination of the ICC's jurisdiction to be attempted, which could contribute significantly to the small Greek literature on these issues.It is indicative that in the official summary of the judgment of 11 October 2013 in the Case of Al-Senussi it was noted that “the Chamber’s decision took into account, holistically, a broad range of factual allegations raised by the parties and participants that were considered both relevant and sufficiently substantiated. These included the quantity and quality of the evidence collected as part of the investigations related to Mr Al-Senussi, the scope, methodology and resources of the investigation into Mr Al-Senussi’s case, the recent transfer to the Accusation Chamber of the case against Mr Al-Senussi and his other 37 co-defendants, the example of certain judicial proceedings conducted to date against other former Gaddafi-era officials, and the efforts made to resolve certain issues in the justice system through recourse to international assistance… the lack of legal representation for Mr Al-Senussi, the serious security difficulties currently experienced across Libya, the absence of protection programmes for witnesses in the context of this precarious security situation and the difficulties faced by the national authorities in exercising control over certain detention facilities”.Therefore the above stance qualified the issues of the Court's jurisdiction not to be addressed in the thesis only from the perspective of international law, criminal law or human rights law, but instead to attempt for the first time a "holistic" presentation of the Court’s jurisdiction. The usefulness of this analysis is particularly demonstrated in the thesis’ sections on Palestine and the concept of state in international criminal law, the immunities and the principle of complementarity.
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