Evaluating the Individual Criminal Responsibility of Gukurahundi Perpetrators under International Law

Siphosami Malunga

doi:10.25159/2522-3062/11632

Authors

Siphosami Malunga University of the Witwatersrand https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8991-8608

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-3062/11632

Keywords:

Zimbabwe, genocide, Gukurahundi atrocities, international crimes, individual criminal responsibility, accountability

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate whether individual criminal responsibility (ICR) is attributable to perpetrators of the Gukurahundi atrocities committed in Matabeleland and Midlands, Zimbabwe, between 1983 and 1987. The criminal liability of Gukurahundi perpetrators is evaluated against the legal requirements garnered from conventions, jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals and the work of leading scholars. Firstly, the article provides an overview and historical development of the concept of ICR under international law. Second, it examines the theories of criminality under international law. Third, it analyses the forms and modalities of ICR including relevant specific crimes. Fourth, it evaluates the individual and superior responsibility of Gukurahundi perpetrators. A crucial feature of international criminal law is the legal obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of international crimes. The article therefore explores the different ways in which ICR could be attributed to perpetrators of the Gukurahundi international crimes. The author sets out to advance knowledge and understanding of possible mechanisms to hold perpetrators of the Gukurahundi atrocities criminally accountable under international law.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Adjei WE, ‘The Development of Individual Criminal Responsibility under International Law: Lessons from Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal’ (2020) 25 Journal of Legal Studies <https://doi.org/10.2478/jles-2020-0005> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jles-2020-0005

Aluka Letter from Maurice Nyagumbo to Robert Mugabe and the ZANU Central Committee <http://psimg.jstor.org/fsi/img/pdf/t0/10.5555/al.sff.document.ranger00103_final.pdf> accessed 9 September 2022.

Ambos K, Article 25: Individual Criminal Responsibility’ in Otto Triffterer (eds) Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Oxford University Press 2008).

Ambos K, Treatise on International Criminal Law – Volume I: Foundations and General Part (Oxford University Press 2021).

Bantekas I, Principles of Direct and Superior Responsibility in International Humanitarian Law (Manchester University Press 2002).

Bezhanishvili M, ‘Relevance of the Nuremberg Principles Today and in the Future’ (2021) Academia Lette <https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2911r> DOI: https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2911

Brändlin A-S, ‘Did Zimbabwe’s Former VP Joyce Mujuru Turn a Blind Eye on Human Rights Violations?’ DW News (10 March 2017).

Damgaard C, Individual Criminal Responsibility for Core International Crimes (Springer Science & Business Media 2008) <https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78781-5> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78781-5

Doran S, ‘New Documents Claim to Prove Mugabe Ordered Gukurahundi Killings’ The Guardian (19 May 2015).

Eser A, ‘Individual Criminal Responsibility’ in Cassese A, Gaeta P and Jones JRWD (eds), The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A Commentary (Oxford University Press 2002).

Finnin S, Elements of Accessorial Modes of Liability: Article 25 (3)(b) and (c) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2012) <https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004228092> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004228092

Guma L, ‘Enos Nkala says Mugabe owned Gukurahundi’ Nehanda Radio (Harare 20 October 2011).

Hart HLA, Punishment and Responsibility: Essays in the Philosophy of Law (Oxford University Press 1968).

Hathaway OH and others, ‘Aiding and Abetting in International Criminal Law’ (2020) 104 Cornell Law Review.

International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) Judgment and Sentences (1947) 41 American Journal of International Law.

Kelman HC and Hamilton VL, ‘Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility’ (APA Psyc Net 1989).

Killander M and Nyathi M, ‘Accountability for the Gukurahundi atrocities in Zimbabwe Thirty Years On: Prospects and Challenges’ (2015) 48 Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa.

Malunga S, ‘Gukurahundi Atrocities and Accountability Challenges in Zimbabwe: A Case for International Justice’ in Mandlenkosi Mpofu and Percy F Makombe (eds), Memory and Erasure: Gukurahundi and the Culture of Violence in Zimbabwe (Weaver Press 2023).

Malunga S, ‘The Killing Fields of Matabeleland: An Examination of the Gukurahundi Genocide in Zimbabwe’ (2022) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law <https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2021/a1> DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2021/a1

Mettraux G, International Crimes and the Ad Hoc Tribunals (Oxford University Press 2005) <https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207541.001.0001> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207541.001.0001

Mettraux G, The Law of Command Responsibility (Oxford University Press 2009) <https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207541.001.0001>

Micus A, ‘The Duty of States to Investigate and Prosecute under International Law’ in The Inter-American Human Rights System as a Safeguard for Justice in National Transitions, (Brill Nijhoff 2015).

Nollkaemper A, ‘Introduction’ in Nollkaemper A and Van der Wilt HG, (eds) System Criminality (Cambridge University Press 2009). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511596650.002

Pomorski S, ‘Conspiracy and Criminal Organization’ in Ginsburgs G and Kudriavtsev VN (eds), The Nuremberg Trial and International Law (Nijhoff 1990).

Röling BVA, ‘Aspects of the Criminal Responsibility for Violations of the Laws of War’ in Cassese A (ed), The New Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict 1979).

Shaw W,‘Towards the One-Party State in Zimbabwe: A Study in African Political Thought’ (1986) 24 The Journal of Modern African Studies <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00007084> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00007084

Smith BF, Reaching Judgment at Nuremberg (Harper Collins 1977).

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law (12th edn, Oxford University Press 2008).

Smith BF, The American Road to Nuremberg: The Documentary Record 1944–1945 (Hoover Institution Press 1982).

Tendi B-M, Army and Politics in Zimbabwe: Mujuru, the Liberation Fighter and Kingmaker (Oxford University Press 2020) <https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108561600> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108561600

Terzian D, Personal Immunity and President Omar al Bashir: An Analysis under Customary International Law and Security Council Resolution 1593, (2011) 16(2) UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs <http://www.jstor.org/stable/45302248> accessed 14 June 2023.

Trainin AN, Hitlerite Responsibility under International Law Hutchison, London 1944).

Van Sliedregt E, Individual Criminal Responsibility in International Law (Oxford University Press 2012).

Ventura MJ, ‘Aiding and Abetting’ in De Hemptinne J et al (eds), Modes of Liability in International Criminal Law (Cambridge University Press 2019) <https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108678957.007> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108678957.007

Wouters J, ‘The Obligation to Prosecute International Law Crimes’ <https://www.law.kuleuven.be/iir/nl/onderzoek/opinies/obligationtoprosecute.pdf> accessed 17 June 2023.

ZANU ‘The Party Organs’ <https://www.zanupf.org.zw/party-organs>accessed 23 June 2023.

Zappalà A, ‘Do Heads of State Enjoy Immunity from Jurisdiction for International Crimes?’ (2001) 13 European Journal of International Law <https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/12.3.595>

Cases

Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro) ICJ Rep 2007.

Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v Belgium), ICJ Rep 2002.

In Re Fidel Castro No 1999/2723, 4 March 1999

‘Judgment of 1 October 1946 Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal’ Nuremberg 1947 Vol 1.

Pinkerton v Unites States 328 US 640 (1946).

Prosecutor v Aleksovski IT-95-14/1.

Prosecutor v Bemba et al ICC-01/05-01/13.

Prosecutor v Brima, Kamara and Kanu, SCSL-04-16-T.

Prosecutor v Dominique Ntawukulilyayo ICTR-05-82-A.

Prosecutor v Delalić et al IT-96-21-A.

Prosecutor v Emmanuel Rukundo ICTR-2001-70-A.

Prosecutor v Fofana and Kondewa SCSL-04-14-T.

Prosecutor v Furundzija IT-95-17/1-T.

Prosecutor v Gacumbitsi ICTR-2001-64.

Prosecutor v Gbagbo ICC-02/11-01/11.

Prosecutor v Germain Katanga ICC-01/04-01/07.

Prosecutor vs Jean Paul Akayesu ICTR-96-4-A.

Prosecutor v Kaing Guek Eav 001/18-07-2007-ECCC/TC <https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2007/07/001> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2007/07/001

Prosecutor v Kambanda ICTR 97-23-S.

Prosecutor v Kamuhanda, ICTR-99-54A-A.

Prosecutor v Karemera et al ICTR-98-44-T.

Prosecutor v Karera ICTR-01-74-A.

Prosecutor v Kayishema & Ruzindana ICTR-95-1-T.

Prosecutor v Kordić & Čerkez IT-95-14/2.

Prosecutor v Krajisnik IT-00-39-A.

Prosecutor v Krnojelac IT-97-25-T.

Prosecutor v Krstić, Trial Chamber Judgment, IT-98-33-T.

Prosecutor v Kupreškic IT-95-16-A.

Prosecutor v Kvočka IT-98-30/I-T.

Prosecutor v Lubanga ICC-01/04-01/06.

Prosecutor v Lukić & Lukić IT-98-32/1-T.

Prosecutor v Martić IT-95-11-A.

Prosecutor v Mitar Vasiljevic IT-98-32-A.

Prosecutor v Mpambara ICTR 01-65-T.

Prosecutor v Musema ICTR-96-13-T.

Prosecutor v Ntagerura et al [Media case] ICTR-99-46-A.

Prosecutor v Ntakirutimana (ICTR-96-10/ICTR-96-17-T).

Prosecutor v Ndindabahizi ICTR-2001-74.

Prosecutor v Ntaganda ICC-01/04-02/06.

Prosecutor v Nyiramasuhuko ICTR-98-42-A.

Prosecutor v Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir ICC-02/05-01/09.

Prosecutor v Orić IT-03-68-T.

Prosecutor v Popović et al. IT-05-88-T.

Prosecutor v Rwamakuba ICTR-98-44-A72.4.

Prosecutor v Sainovi IT-05-87-A.

Prosecutor v Seromba ICTR-2001-66-A.

Prosecutor v Simba ICTR-2001-76-T.

Prosecutor v Simba ICTR-2001-76-A.

Prosecutor v Sesay, Kallon and Gbao, SCSL-04-15-T.

Prosecutor v Simić IT-95-9-A.

Prosecutor v Stakić IT-97-24-A.

Prosecutor v Strugar IT-01-42-T.

Prosecutor v Tadić IT-94-1.

Prosecutor v Taylor SCSL-03-01-A.

Prosecutor v Tihomir Blaškić 2000 IT-95-14.

Southern Africa Litigation Centre v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others (Al Bashir Case) (27740/2015) [2015] ZAGPPHC 402

Trial of Erich Heyer and Six Others (The Essen Lynching case) British military Court, Essen, Germany 22 December 1945 (1951) 13 Ann. Digest <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316151402.164> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316151402.164

Trial of Feuerstein and Others (Ponzano Case) Proceedings of a War Crimes Trial held at Hamburg Germany Judgment of 24 August 1948.

Trial of Kurt Goebell et al (The Borkum Island cases) <https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/d494ab/pdf> accessed 17 June 2023.

Trial of Martin Gottfried Weiss and Thirty-Nine Others UN War Crimes Comm’n XI Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals 5–17 (1949) (General Military Government Court of the United States Zone Dachau Germany 1945) [Dachau Concentration Camp case] <https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/78737e/pdf> accessed 17 June 2023.

Trial of Max Wielen and Seventeen Others [Stalag Luft III] UN War Crimes Comm’n XI Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals 33 46 (1949) (British Military Court Hamburg Germany 1947) <https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llmlp/Law-Reports_Vol-15/Law-Reports_Vol-15.pdf> accessed 17 June 2023.

Trial of Otto Sandrock and Three Others, UN War Crimes Comm’n, I Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals 35, 40 (1947) (British Military Court, Almelo, Holland 1945) <https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llmlp/Law-Reports_Vol-1/Law-Reports_Vol-1.pdf> accessed 17 June 2023.

United States of America v Otto Ohlendorf et al TWC iv 3.

The Zyklon B, Case; Trial of Bruno Tesch and Two Others; British Military Court Hamburg 1-8 March 1946 <https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/10c581/pdf/> accessed 17 June 2023.

Treaties

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (adopted 9 December 1948) 78 UNTS 277 (Genocide Convention).

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field’ (adopted 12 August 1949) 75 UNTS 31 (First Geneva Convention).

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea’ (adopted 12 August 1949) 75 UNTS 85 art 51 (Second Geneva Convention).

Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War’ (adopted 12 August 1949) 75 UNTS 135 (Third Geneva Convention).

Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War’ (adopted 12 August 1949) 75 UNTS 287 (Fourth Geneva Convention).

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II) (8 June 1977) 1125 UNTS 609.

Reports

‘Affirmation of the Principles of International Law Recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal’ GA Res 95 (I) UN GAOR, 1st Sess pt 2 at 1144 UN Doc A/236 (1946).

‘Individual Criminal Responsibility’ ICRC <https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/

individual-criminal-responsibility> accessed27 March 2022.

‘Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal: Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its Second Session’ UN GAOR 5th Sess Supp No 12 UN Doc.A/1316 (1950).

Principle III of ‘Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal: Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its Second Session’ UN GAOR, 5th Sess Supp No 12 UN Doc.A/1316 (1950).

Report of the UN Secretary-General Pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Security Council Resolution 808’ (1993) 3 May 1993 UN Doc S/25704 paras 54–55.

Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum ‘Their words condemn them: The language of violence, intolerance and despotism in Zimbabwe’ (Report) 6 <https://ntjwg.uwazi.io/api/files/1554966065676eliku1zy8f7.pdf> accessed 21 March 2022.

Statutes

Clemency Order No 1 of April 18, 1988 (Zimbabwe).

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (adopted 17 July 1998) UNTS 2187.

Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (as amended on 17 May 2002), 25 May 1993 <https://www.refworld.org/docid/3dda28414.html> accessed 17 June 2023.

Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (as last amended on 13 October 2006), 8 November 1994 <https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3952c.html> accessed 17 June 2023.