considered that they constituted a crime against humanity. For both the Commission and the representatives, the consequences of either of these offenses would be the same: the obligation of the State to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for the facts, without using procedural obstacles that could protect them from legal action. Meanwhile, the State did not refer to either of these classifications, but contested the legal effects alleged by the Commission and the representatives in this specific case. 212. In the judgment in the case of Almonacid Arellano v. Chile, 146 relating to the murder of Luis Alfredo Almonacid Arellano on September 16, 1973, the Inter-American Court indicated that “there is sufficient evidence to conclude that in 1973, the year in which Mr. Almonacid Arellano died, the perpetration of crimes against humanity, including murder committed in the course of a widespread or systematic attack against certain sectors of the civilian population, was in violation of a binding rule of international law. The said prohibition to commit crimes 146 Cf. Case of Almonacid Arellano et al. v. Chile. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of September 26, 2006. Series C No. 154, paras. 94 and ff: 94. The development of the concept of a “crime against humanity” started at the beginning of the last century. In the preamble to The Hague Convention on Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907) (Convention IV), the High Contracting Parties established that “the inhabitants and the belligerents remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the law of Nations as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity, and the dictates of the public conscience.” Likewise, the term “crimes against humanity and civilization” was used by the Governments of France, the United Kingdom and Russia on May 28, 1915, to denounce the massacre of Armenians in Turkey. 95. Murder as a crime against humanity was included for the first time in Article 6(c) of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg which was annexed to the Agreement to establish an International Military Tribunal for the trial and punishment of the main war criminals of the European Axis countries, signed in London on August 8, 1945 (the “London Charter”). Shortly afterwards, on December 20, 1945, the Control Council Law No. 10 also considered murder as a crime against humanity in its Article II(c). Similarly, the crime of murder was included in Article 5(c) of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the trial of the main war criminals of the Far East (Tokyo Charter), adopted on January 19, 1946. 96. Furthermore, the Court acknowledges that the Nuremberg Charter played an important role in establishing the elements that characterize a crime as a “crime against humanity.” This Charter provided the first articulation of the elements for such a crime. The original conception of such elements remained basically unaltered as of the date of the death of Mr. Almonacid Arellano, with the exception that crimes against humanity may be committed during both times of peaceful and times of war. On that basis, the Court acknowledges that crimes against humanity include the perpetration of inhuman acts, such as murder, committed in a context of widespread or systematic attacks against civilians. A single illegal act such as those mentioned above, committed within the described background, would suffice for a crime against humanity to arise. In the same sense, the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia rendered judgment in the Case of Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, when considering that “a single act committed by a perpetrator within a context of a widespread or systematic attack against the civil population brings about individual criminal liability, and it is not necessary for the perpetrator to commit numerous offenses in order to be considered responsible.” […]. 97. On the other hand, the International Military Tribunal for the trial of the Major War Criminals (hereinafter the “Nuremberg Tribunal”), which had jurisdiction to hear the cases of crimes included in the London Charter, stated that the Nuremberg Charter “is the expression of international law existing at the moment of its creation, and to such extent, is in itself a contribution to international law.” In this way, it provided recognition of the existence of an international custom, as an expression of international law, which prohibited such crimes. 98. The prohibition of crimes against humanity, including murder, was further corroborated by the United Nations. On December 11, 1946, the General Assembly confirmed “the principles of international law recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the judgments of said Tribunal.” Furthermore, in 1947, the General Assembly entrusted the International Law Commission with “formulating the international law principles recognized by the Charter and by the judgments of the Nuremberg Tribunal.” These principles were adopted in 1950. Among them, Principle VI(c) classifies murder as a crime against humanity. Likewise, the Court points out that Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Chile has been a party since 1950, also prohibits “homicide in all its forms” of persons that do not directly take part in the hostilities. 44