The concept and composition of war crimes in the context of international criminal law

Abstract

The article conducts a comprehensive study of the legal category of «War Crimes» in the context of the provisions of international criminal law and international regulations. To date, the concept of war crime has not received clear legal regulation in the provisions of international law, but has become widespread and applied in practice a list of acts that are recognized as war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Geneva Convention.
A full analysis of the category of «war crime» is impossible without studying the legal features of war crimes based on the provisions of international humanitarian law and the security doctrine of the international community, through the prism of the practice of international law.
War crimes are characterized by the significance of those features of a criminal offense that are irrelevant in ordinary crimes and in war crimes allow to correctly classify a socially dangerous act and determine the rules of international law applicable to a person committing a war crime. A special feature of the subject of the crime is the presence of a special subject of war crimes, namely combatants or non-combatants. From a subjective side a military crime is accomplished consciously and with the intentional form of guilt. Marked, that during the estimation of publicly-dangerous act as military crime an important value has research of signs of perfect act through the prism of signs of soldiery crimes, that is certain the norms of Genevan convention and also Roman charter of the International criminal court. It is thus summarized that as a military crime the feasance of international or domestic conflict comes forward a subject or by the persons of act, that consists in gross, mass violation of norms of international humanitarian law and also in gross violation of rights and freedoms of persons, that participate battle actions or are in the district of realization of battle actions, equated with them.