Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the
Nüremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, 1950.
Principle
I
Any person who commits an act which constitutes
a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to
punishment.
Principle II
The fact that international law does not impose
a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not
relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under
international law.
Principle III
The fact that a person who committed an act
which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or
responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under
international law.
Principle IV
The fact that a person acted pursuant to order
of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility
under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.
Principle V
Any person charged with a crime under
international law has the right to a fair trial on the facts and law.
Principle VI
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable
as crimes under international law:
(a) Crimes against peace:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging
of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties,
agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or
conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).
(b) War crimes:
Violations of the laws or customs of war
include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to
slave-labour or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied
territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war, of persons on the seas,
killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction
of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military
necessity.
(c) Crimes against humanity:
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation
and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on
political, racial or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such
persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connexion with any crime
against peace or any war crime.
Principle VII
Complicity in the commission of a crime against
peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is
a crime under international law.
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