Putin on Trial: Personal Immunities Before the International Criminal Court
摘要
The contribution concerns an exception from the jurisdictional framework of the ICC or rather the extent of jurisdiction ratione personae. The chapter analyses the available case law of the ICC concerning the applicability of personal immunities in proceedings before it and assesses possible prospects of its usage in recent or eventual future cases before the ICC. The author presents critical stance against the conclusion of the Appeals Chamber adopted in the Al-Bashir that personal immunities disappear in the proceedings before the ICC due to existence of the respective rule of customary international law, which is allegedly codified in Article 27(2) of the Rome Statute. The author is aware that the conclusion (whether positive or negative) on the applicability of personal immunities before the ICC has a direct impact on prosecution of crimes under international law, including war crimes, committed by members of the troika before the ICC itself, but also before any other international criminal tribunals, including those that will eventually be created (e.g. the special ad hoc tribunal for the crime of aggression committed against Ukraine). The contribution explores the possible paths to disregard personal immunity of troika members coming from the third states (non-state parties to the Rome Statute) and admits that the removal of immunity might stem from a Security Council resolution, once it is expressly provided in such a resolution. Otherwise, it aims at the customary international law path—not yet established under the author’s opinion—which might be nevertheless brought about by dynamic (i.e. not merely deductive) creation of customary international law and assesses also a possibility to remove the personal immunity through application of circumstances precluding wrongfulness, namely the self-defence.