47
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.”123 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.”124 These principles were adopted in 1950.125 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.
99.
Based on the preceding paragraphs, the Court finds that there is sufficient
evidence to conclude that in 1973, year in which Mr. Almonacid-Arellano died, the
commission of crimes against humanity, including murder committed in the course of
a generalized or systematic attack against certain sectors of the civil population, was
in violation of a binding rule of international law. Said prohibition to commit crimes
against humanity is a ius cogens rule, and the punishment of such crimes is
obligatory pursuant to the general principles of international law.
100. The European Court of Human Rights also rendered a judgment in that sense
in the Case of Kolk and Kislyiy v. Estonia. In this case, Kolk and Kislyiy committed
crimes against humanity in 1949 and were tried and convicted for such crimes by the
Estonian courts in 2003. The European Court stated that even though the acts
committed by those persons might have been legal pursuant to the domestic
legislation then in force, the Estonian courts considered that they were crimes
against humanity under international law at the moment of their commission, and
that there was no reason to conclude otherwise.126
123
Cf. UN, Confirmation of the Principles of International Law recognized by the Charter of the
Nuremberg Court adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution 95(I), at its 55th
plenary session on December 11, 1946.
124
Cf. UN, Formulation of the Principles of International law recognized by the Charter and by the
Judgments of the Nuremberg Tribunal, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in
Resolution 177 (II), at its 123rd plenary session on November 21, 1947.
125
Cf. UN, Principles of International law recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal,
adopted by the International Law Commission of the United Nations in 1950 (A/CN.4/34).
126
Cf. ECHR, Case of Kolk and Kislyiy v. Estonia, Judgment of January 17, 2006. Applications No.
23052/04 and 24018/04.
[Kolk and Kislyiy] pointed out that the acts in respect of which they were convicted had
taken place in 1949 in the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of
Estonia. At the time the events occurred the Criminal Code of 1946 of the Russian Federative
Socialist Republic was applicable in the territory of Estonia. The said code did not
contemplate crimes against humanity. The responsibility for crimes against humanity was
not established in Estonia until November 9, 1944 [...]
The Court notices, first, that Estonia lost its independence as a consequence of the nonaggression Pact between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known
as “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”,) adopted on August 23, 1939, and its additional secret
protocols. [...] The totalitarian Communist Regime of the Soviet Union conducted systematic
actions on a large scale against the Estonian population, including, for example, the
deportation of approximately 10,000 people on June 14, 1941 and over 20,000 people on
March 25, 1949.
[…]
The Court notices that the deportation of the civilian population was expressly recognized by
the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945 as a crime against humanity (article 6 (c)).
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