Chapter 453 – International Criminal Court Act
What is this act about?
This law, the International Criminal Court Act, is about providing assistance to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its investigations and prosecutions. It also defines offences related to the ICC and outlines how sentences and orders from the ICC are enforced in Malta.
Who it applies to: The Minister responsible for Justice; Any person involved in investigations or prosecutions by the ICC.
At a glance
- Country
- Malta
- Area of law
- Criminal law
- Articles
- 7
- Source
- legislation.mt
- Text retrieved
- Explanation updated
What does this act regulate?
- Assistance to the ICC for investigations and prosecutions.
- Offences against the administration of justice in relation to the ICC.
- The enforcement of sentences of imprisonment imposed by the ICC in Malta.
- The enforcement of fines, forfeitures, and reparation orders made by the ICC.
Who does this act apply to?
- The Minister responsible for Justice.
- Any person involved in investigations or prosecutions by the ICC.
- Citizens of Malta or permanent residents in Malta who commit offences against the administration of justice in relation to the ICC, even if committed outside Malta.
- Persons sentenced to imprisonment by the ICC who are designated to serve their sentence in Malta.
What are the key points?
- The Minister can provide assistance to the ICC for investigations and prosecutions that have been initiated and are not yet concluded.
- Malta's national security interests are protected; documents or information prejudicial to Malta's security do not have to be produced or disclosed.
- It is an offence to intentionally commit acts against the administration of justice in relation to the ICC, as detailed in Article 70.1 of the ICC Treaty.
- A person found guilty of such an offence faces specific punishments, including imprisonment from two to five years for certain acts, or higher punishments depending on the circumstances.
Criminal law
Legal text
Legal text
Contents (7)
- Article 6 Genocide
- Article 7 Crimes against humanity
- Article 8 War crimes
- Article 9 Elements of Crimes
- Article 13 Exercise of jurisdiction
- Article 70 Offences against the administration of justice
- Article 92 Provisional arrest
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
CHAPTER 453
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT ACT To provide for assistance to the International Criminal Court.
13th December, 2003 ACT XXIV of 2002.
PART 1
PRELIMINARY 1.
The short title of this Act is the International Criminal Court Act.
2.
Interpretation. ''ICC crime'' means a crime (other than the crime of aggression) over which the ICC has jurisdiction in accordance with the ICC Treaty the relevant provisions of which are reproduced in Schedule I to this Act; ''the ICC Treaty'' means the Statute of the International Criminal Court, done at Rome on 17th July, 1998; ''the ICC'' means the International Criminal Court established by the ICC Treaty; ''genocide'' means an act of genocide as defined in article 54B of the Criminal Code; ''crime against humanity'' means a crime against humanity as defined in article 54C of the Criminal Code; ''war crime'' means a war crime as defined in article 54D of the Criminal Code; ''Minister'' means the Minister responsible for Justice.
PART 2
ASSISTANCE TO THE ICC 3. (1) The powers conferred by this Part on the Minister are exercisable for the purpose of providing assistance to the ICC in relation to investigations or prosecutions where (a) an investigation has been initiated by the ICC, and (b) the investigation and any proceedings arising out of it have not been concluded.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (a) for the making of a request by the ICC or the transmission of any supporting documents, or (b) for the transmission of any document in consequence of such a request, this Part applies as if the documents so sent were the originals of the documents so transmitted. Any such document shall be receivable and admissible in evidence accordingly.
Power to make regulations.
National security interests.
Transmission of material to the ICC.
PART 3
OFFENCES IN RELATION TO THE ICC 7. (1) It shall be an offence for any person to intentionally commit any of the acts mentioned in Article 70.1 of the ICC Treaty (offences against the administration of justice in relation to the ICC), hereinafter in this Part referred to as ''the relevant article''.
Offences in relation to the ICC.
Mental element.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
PART 4
ENFORCEMENT OF SENTENCES AND ORDERS 9.
The Minister shall issue a warrant authorising (a) the bringing of the prisoner to Malta, (b) the detention of the prisoner in Malta in accordance with the sentence of the ICC, and (c) the taking of the prisoner to a prison, within the meaning of the Prisons Act, in Malta.
The provisions of the warrant may be varied by the Minister, and shall be so varied to give effect to any variation of the ICC’s sentence.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT the ICC, the warrant authorising his detention in Malta shall continue to have effect so as to apply to him again on his return.
Custody of prisoner in transit, etc.
Power to make regulations.
Provided that different provision may be made for different kinds of order.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT 13.
Omitted under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980.
Amendment of the Criminal Code.
14.
Omitted under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980.
Amendment of the Extradition Act.
15.
Omitted under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980.
Amendment of the Prisons Act.
Articles of ICC Statute in Schedule.
Ratification of ICC Treaty.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FIRST SCHEDULE (Article 2) Crimes within the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
Article 6Genocide
For the purpose of this Statute, ''genocide'' means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article 7Crimes against humanity
1.
For the purpose of this Statute, ''crime against humanity'' means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Murder;
Extermination;
Enslavement;
Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; (f) Torture; (g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; (h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court; (i) Enforced disappearance of persons; (j) The crime of apartheid; (k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
2.
For the purpose of paragraph 1 (a) ''Attack directed against any civilian population'' means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack; ''Extermination'' includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population; ''Enslavement'' means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children; ''Deportation or forcible transfer of population'' means forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law; ''Torture'' means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions; ''Forced pregnancy'' means the unlawful confinement of a woman forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law. This definition shall not in any way be interpreted as affecting national laws relating to pregnancy; ''Persecution'' means the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity; ''The crime of apartheid'' means inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime; ''Enforced disappearance of persons'' means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.
1.
For the purpose of this Statute, it is understood that the term ''gender'' refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term ''gender'' does not indicate any meaning different from the above.
Article 8War crimes
1.
The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.
(viii) The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory; (ix) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives; (x) Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons; (xi) Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army; (xii) Declaring that no quarter will be given; (xiii) Destroying or seizing the enemy’s property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war; (xiv) Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party; (xv) Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent’s service before the commencement of the war; (xvi) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; (xvii) Employing poison or poisoned weapons; (xviii) Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices; .......... omissis .......... (xix) Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions; (xxi) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; (xxii) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in Article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions; (xxiii) Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations; (xxiv) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive
emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law; (xxv) Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions; (xxvi) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities. (c) In the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, serious INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT violations of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause (i) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (ii) Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; (iii) Taking of hostages; (iv) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable. (d) Paragraph 2(c) applies to armed conflicts not of an international character and thus does not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature. (e) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts: (i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; (ii) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law; (iii) Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict; (iv) Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to
religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives; (v) Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault; (vi) Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, and any other form of sexual violence also constituting a serious violation of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions; (vii) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities; (viii) Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand;
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ix) (x) (xi) Killing or wounding treacherously a combatant adversary;
Declaring that no quarter will be given;
Subjecting persons who are in the power of another party to the conflict to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons; (xii) Destroying or seizing the property of an adversary unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of the conflict. (f) Paragraph 2 (e) applies to armed conflicts not of an international character and thus does not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature. It applies to armed conflicts that take place in the territory of a State when there is protracted armed conflict between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups.
SECOND SCHEDULE (Article 16) Articles of the ICC Treaty referred to in the Act
Article 9Elements of Crimes
1.
Elements of Crimes shall assist the Court in the interpretation and application of articles 6, 7 and 8. They shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Assembly of States Parties.
2.
Amendments to the Elements of Crimes may be proposed by (a) Any State Party; (b) The judges acting by an absolute majority; (c) The Prosecutor.
Such amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Assembly of States Parties.
3.
The Elements of Crimes and amendments thereto shall be consistent with this Statute.
Article 13Exercise of jurisdiction
The Court may exercise its jurisdiction with respect to a crime referred to in article 5 in accordance with the provisions of this Statute if ............ omissis ..........
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (b) A situation in which one or more of such crimes appears to have been committed is referred to the Prosecutor by the Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations;
Article 70Offences against the administration of justice
1.
The Court shall have jurisdiction over the following offences against its administration of justice when committed intentionally (a) Giving false testimony when under an obligation pursuant to Article 69, paragraph 1, to tell the truth; (b) Presenting evidence that the party knows is false or forged; (c) Corruptly influencing a witness, obstructing or interfering with the attendance or testimony of a witness, retaliating against a witness for giving testimony or destroying, tampering with or interfering with the collection of evidence; (d) Impeding, intimidating or corruptly influencing an official of the Court for the purpose of forcing or persuading the official not to perform, or to perform improperly, his or her duties; (e) Retaliating against an official of the Court on account of duties performed by that or another official; (f) Soliciting or accepting a bribe as an official of the Court in connection with his or her official duties. .......... omissis ............
NOTE Article 69.1, referred to in Article 70.1(a), provides as follows ''1 Before testifying, each witness shall, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, give an undertaking as to the truthfulness of the evidence to be given by that witness.''.
Article 92Provisional arrest
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3.
A person who is provisionally arrested may be released from custody if the requested State has not received the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in Article 91 within the time limits specified in INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. However, the person may consent to surrender before the expiration of this period if permitted by the law of the requested State. In such a case, the requested State shall proceed to surrender the person to the Court as soon as possible.