Assad - World Model United Nations

Legal Brief for the Defence
24. Intent requires that the accused meant to engage in the conduct, or meant to cause a
consequence, or is aware that it will occur in the ordinary course of events. 27 First, the
accused is not in control of the military in Syria 28 . Whilst the President authorises the
SAF to do broad ‘missions’ such as defending a town, he does not authorise the
actions of the SAF which purportedly amount to crimes against humanity. 29 Whilst
this does not in and of itself mean that the accused cannot be said to have the requisite
mental element, it evinces that he had no intent to cause the acts which were
purportedly committed by the Syrian Armed Forces.
25. Knowledge requires that the accused was aware that a circumstance exists or that a
consequence will occur in the ordinary course of events. 30 Whilst it may be said that
the accused knew there was a risk that the SAF would act the way they did, the
Defence submits that this is incapable of fulfilling the mental elements of crimes
against humanity. The Defence would adopt this Court’s interpretation of the mental
requirements in Bemba and Lubanga which held that the concept of dolus eventualis
does not accord with the plain language of the Statute. 31
WorldMUN The Prosecutor v Joseph Al-Assad
A. Murder
26. The crime of Murder is found in Article 7(1)(a):
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) Murder;
27. The elements of the crime are: 32
27 Rome Statute, Article 30(2).
1. The perpetrator killed one or more persons.
28 Affidavit of Bashar Al-Assad, [4].
29 Ibid.
30 Rome Statute, Article 30(3).
31 Prosecutor v Bemba (Decision Pursuant to Article 61 (7)(a) and (b) of the Rome Statute on the Charges of the
Prosecutor against Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo) (International Criminal Court, Case No ICC-01/05-01/08, 15
June 2009), [363]-[369]; Prosecutor v Lubanga (Judgment pursuant to Article 74 of the Statute) (International
Criminal Court, Trial Chamber I, Case No ICC-01/04-01/06, 14 March 2012), [1011].
32 Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(a).
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