Prosecutor v. Krnojelac

Case Name: 
Prosecutor v. Krnojelac
Document: 
IT-97-25-A (Appeals Chamber Judgement)
Decision Date: 
September 17, 2003
Key Facts: 

Appellant was commander of KP Dom and charged with acting together and in common purpose with guards to persecute Muslim and other non-Serb civilian detainees, commit acts of torture, beatings and murder, and illegally detain non-Serb civilians. The Trial Chamber charged him with 12 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the Prosecutor and appellant appealed. The Appeals Chamber dismissed all grounds of appeal raised by the parties with the exception of one of the Prosecutor’s grounds, having to do with mitigation in sentencing.

Elements: 

1. Acts “specifically directed to assist, encourage or lend moral support to the perpetration of a certain specific crime” with a “substantial effect upon the perpetration of the crime”

2. “[K]nowledge that the acts performed by the aider and abettor assist the commission of the specific crime of the principal” (¶ 33, citing Tadic)

Key Passages : 

MENS REA: The aider and abettor in “persecution [imprisonment and living conditions], an offence with a specific intent, must be aware not only of the crime whose perpetration he is facilitating but also of the discriminatory intent of the perpetrators of that crime. He need not share the intent but he must be aware of the discriminatory context in which the crime is to be committed and know that his support or encouragement has a substantial effect on its perpetration” (¶ 52).

Tribunal: 
ICTY
Chamber: 
Appeals Chamber