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Crime of Aggression

Crimes Against Humanity

Genocide

War Crimes



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Domestic Legislation | Resources and Links





Domestic legislation for serious crimes under international law

Crimes

Crime of Aggression / Crimes against Peace

Crimes against peace are included in Chapter XIII ("Criminal Offences against Humanity, Peace and War Crimes"), Part 2 ("Criminal Offences against Peace and War Crimes"), Sections 405a-410 of the Criminal Code of the Czech Republic. Section 405a defines the crime of aggression as follows:

    § 405a
    Aggression

    Any person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State who, in contravention of the provisions of international law, carries out the planning, preparation, initiation or execution of an act consisting in the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or the use of force by such State in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, and which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for twelve to twenty years or to an exceptional imprisonment term.

    [Translated by Equipo Nizkor from the Czech updated version available at https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2009-40. Please note that the English version provided below does not incorporate article 405a.]
See:

  • The Criminal Code Act. Law No. 40/2009 Coll.
    Collection of Laws - Czech Republic, No. 11, 09 February 2009. (Effective from 1 January 2010) [ENG]

    ➤ The Czech Republic acceded to the Kampala amendments to the Rome Statute on the crime of aggression on 12 March 2015:

  • Czech Republic deposited the instruments of acceptance to the Amendments to the Rome Statute concerning the crime of aggression and war crimes .
    Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York, New York, 12 March 2015. [ENG]

    Crimes Against Humanity

    ➤ Crimes against humanity are included in Sections 401 and 405 of the Criminal Code of the Czech Republic. See:

  • The Criminal Code Act. Law No. 40/2009 Coll.
    Collection of Laws - Czech Republic, No. 11, 09 February 2009. (Effective from 1 January 2010) [ENG]

    ➤ The Czech Republic ratified the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006) on 08 February 2017. Upon ratification, the Czech Republic made the following declarations:
      "Declaration under article 31
      pursuant to Article 31 (1) of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Czech Republic declares that it recognizes the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals subject to its jurisdiction claiming to be victims of a violation by the Czech Republic of provisions of this Convention."
      "Declaration under article 32
      pursuant to Article 32 of the of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Czech Republic declares that it recognizes the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances to receive and consider communications in which a State Party claims that another State Party is not fulfilling its obligations under this Convention."
    Article 5 of the said Convention stipulates:
      "The widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity as defined in applicable international law and shall attract the consequences provided for under such applicable international law."

    Genocide

    Genocide is defined in Section 400 of the Criminal Code of the Czech Republic:

      § 400
      Genocide

      (1) Whoever with the intention to completely or partially eradicate a racial, ethnic, national, religious, class, or other similar group of people
        a) brings members of such a group to such living conditions that are to cause their complete or partial physical annihilation,
        b) takes measures to prevent birth of children within such a group,
        c) Forcibly transfers children from such group to another, or
        d) causes death or grievous bodily harm to a member of such group,
      shall be sentenced to imprisonment for twelve to twenty years or to an exceptional sentence of imprisonment.
      (2) The same sentence shall be imposed to anyone who publically incites commission of the act referred to in Sub-section (1).
      (3) Preparation is criminal.

      [Please note that the English version provided below does not include letter c), which was incorporated from the Czech updated version of the Criminal Code available at https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2009-40 and translated by Equipo Nizkor.]
    Additionally, Section 405 of the Criminal Code punishes genocide denial. See:

  • The Criminal Code Act. Law No. 40/2009 Coll.
    Collection of Laws - Czech Republic, No. 11, 09 February 2009. (Effective from 1 January 2010) [ENG]

    War Crimes

    War crimes are defined in Sections 411-417 of the Criminal Code of the Czech Republic. See:

  • The Criminal Code Act. Law No. 40/2009 Coll.
    Collection of Laws - Czech Republic, No. 11, 09 February 2009. (Effective from 1 January 2010) [ENG]


    Jurisdiction

    ➤ The applicable jurisdictional regime is contained in Sections 6-9 of the Criminal Code.
    • Section 6: Principle of Personality
    • Section 7: Principle of Protection and Principle of Universality
    • Section 8: Subsidiary Principle of Universality
    • Section 9: Jurisdiction Stipulated by an International Treaty
    [Please Note that Sections 7 and 8 provided in the English version below have not been updated, but the current wording is avaible in Czech at https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2009-40. Section 7 has been amended to include in its list of crimes several articles regarding terrorism. Section 8 has been amended to add a subsection "c)" which extends the possibilty of prosecution to those cases in which a foreign country which has requested the extradition or the transfer of the perpetrator for the purposes of prosecution or execution of sentence, requests that the perpetrator be prosecuted in the Czech Republic].

    See:

  • The Criminal Code Act. Law No. 40/2009 Coll.
    Collection of Laws - Czech Republic, No. 11, 09 February 2009. (Effective from 1 January 2010) [ENG]

    ➤ Miscellaneous provisions of the Criminal Code applying to the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes:
      Section 418
      Responsibility of Superiors

      (1) A military or another superior is criminally liable for the crime of genocide (Section 400), an attack against humanity (Section 401), an act of aggression (Section 405a), the preparation of offensive war (Section 406), the incitement to offensive war (Section 407), the use of forbidden means and methods of combat (Section 411), war cruelty (Section 412), the persecution of population (Section 413), pillage in the area of military operations (Section 414), abuse of internationally and state recognised symbols (Section 415), abuse of flag and armistice (Section 416), and the harming of a conciliator (Section 417) if committed by their subordinates, over whom they exercised their power and control, even out of negligence, if he/she did not prevent them from committing such a criminal offence, failed to prevent the commission of such criminal offence, or failed to sanction them for the commission of such a criminal offence, or failed to refer them to the relevant authority for imposing such sanction.
      (2) Provisions regulating the criminal liability and culpability of a subordinate offender shall apply to criminal liability and culpability of a military or another superior.

      [Wording incorporated from the Czech updated version of the Criminal Code available at https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2009-40 and translated by Equipo Nizkor. Please note that Section 418 as provided by the English version below does not include the reference to article 405a on aggression.]
    Other Sections of the Criminal Code including additional provisions applying to the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity, genocide and/or war crimes are the following:
    • Section 7: Principle of Protection and Principle of Universality
    • Section 54: Exceptional Sentence of Imprisonment
    • Section 88: Conditional Release from Imprisonment
    • Section 366: Favouritism
    • Section 367: Non-prevention of Criminal Offence
    • Section 368: Non-reporting of Criminal Offense
    [The updated wording for such sections in Czech is available at https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2009-40]

    Additional information about universal jurisdiction and the Czech Republic's legal system:

  • Information submitted by the Czech Republic on the Scope and Application of the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction.
    The scope and application of the principle of universal jurisdiction (Agenda item 86), General Assembly of the United Nations, Sixth Committee (Legal), sixty-fifth session (4 October to 11 November 2010).
    [General Assembly resolution 64/117 (A/RES/64/117) of 15 January 2010, "[R]equests the Secretary-General to invite Member States to submit, before 30 April 2010, information and observations on the scope and application of the principle of universal jurisdiction, including information on the relevant applicable international treaties, their domestic legal rules and judicial practice, and to prepare and submit to the General Assembly, at its sixty-fifth session, a report based on such information and observations." This document contains the reply provided by Slovenia to the said request.] See:

  • The Criminal Code Act. Law No. 40/2009 Coll.
    Collection of Laws - Czech Republic, No. 11, 09 February 2009. (Effective from 1 January 2010) [ENG]


    International Criminal Court

    Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: The Czech Republic signed the Rome Statute on 13 April 1999 and deposited its instrument of ratification on 21 July 2009.

    ➤ The Czech Republic acceded to the Kampala amendments to the Rome Statute on the crime of aggression on 12 March 2015:

  • Czech Republic deposited the instruments of acceptance to the Amendments to the Rome Statute concerning the crime of aggression and war crimes .
    Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York, New York, 12 March 2015. [ENG]

  • Resources and Links

  • Constitution of the Czech Republic.
    Constitutional Court, Czech Republic. [ENG]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link to pdf document]

  • Constitution of the Slovak Republic. (1993 with Amendments through 2002)
    Comparative Constitutions Project, University of Texas at Austin. [ENG]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link to pdf document]

  • Criminal Code of the Czech Republic. Law No. 40/2009 Coll. (Updated)
    Zákony pro lidi. [CZE]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link]

  • Criminal Code of the Czech Republic. (Law No. 40/2009 Coll.)
    National Library of the Czech Republic. [CZE]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link to pdf document]

  • Criminal Procedure Code of the Czech Republic. Law No. 141/1961 Coll. (Act on Criminal Proceedings). (Updated).
    Zákony pro lidi. [CZE]. [Last accessed 10Oct17]. [External Link]

  • Zákon č. 104/2013 Sb. Zákon o mezinárodní justiční spolupráci ve včcech trestních.
    (Act on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters)
    Zákony pro lidi. [CZE]. [Last accessed 10Oct17]. [External Link]

  • Collection of Laws. Sbírka zákonů a Sbírka mezinárodních smluv. (Official Journal).
    Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic. [CZE]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link]

  • Collection of Laws. Sbírka zákonů.
    Parliament of the Czech Republic. [CZE]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link]

  • The legislation of the Czech Republic.
    EUR-Lex. [CZE / Explanation in ENG]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link]

  • List of International Humanitarian Law Treaties to which the Czech Republic is a State party.
    International Committee of the Red Cross. [ENG]. [Last accessed 09Oct17]. [External Link]