The First Judgment of the International Criminal Court (Prosecutor v. Lubanga): A Comprehensive Analysis of the Legal Issues

International Criminal Law Review, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2012

39 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2012 Last revised: 9 Jul 2020

See all articles by Kai Ambos

Kai Ambos

University of Goettingen (Göttingen)

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

On 14 March Trial Chamber I (hereinafter ‘the Chamber’) of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’ or ‘the Court’) delivered the long awaited first judgment of the Court (‘the judgment’). This comment focuses exclusively on the legal issues dealt with in the judgment but pretends to do this comprehensively. It critically analyses the following five subject matters with the respective legal issues: definition and participation of victims; presentation and evaluation of evidence; nature of the armed conflict; war crime of recruitment and use of children under fifteen years (Article 8 (2)(e)(vii) ICC Statute); and, last but not least, co-perpetration as the relevant mode of responsibility, including the mental element (Article 25, 30). While this paper follows the order of the judgment for the reader’s convenience and to better represent the judgment’s argumentative sequence, the length and depth of the inquiry into each subject matter and the respective issues depend on their importance for the future case law of the Court and the persuasiveness of the Chamber’s own treatment of the issue. The paper concludes with some general remarks on aspects of drafting, presentation and referencing.

Keywords: Lubanga, victims, evidence, armed conflict, child soldiers, individual criminal responsibility

Suggested Citation

Ambos, Kai, The First Judgment of the International Criminal Court (Prosecutor v. Lubanga): A Comprehensive Analysis of the Legal Issues (2012). International Criminal Law Review, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2030751 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2030751

Kai Ambos (Contact Author)

University of Goettingen (Göttingen) ( email )

Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5
Göttingen, 37073
Germany

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