Human Rights

A recent case brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights seeks to have the ten U.S. officials indicted for war crimes under the German Völkerstrafgesetzbuch(Code of Crimes Against International Law) and for acts of torture under domestic criminal legislation committed against the four Iraqi citizens and other detainees in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

Having received considerable media attention in Germany and abroad, the case is the first practical test for the universal jurisdiction clause contained in the Völkerstrafgesetzbuch, a criminal statute enacted in June, 2002. Germany's Chief Federal Prosecutor, who is dealing with the criminal complaint, has not yet decided whether to indict any of the ten accused.

This Insight does not reach any conclusions about the individual criminal responsibility of any of the ten accused. It merely identifies and briefly analyzes the legal norms determining whether international law permits an indictment of the accused in Germany and whether the accused are likely to be indicted under the Völkerstrafgesetzbuch.