22 August 1996

UNITED NATIONS

Department of Public Information

Press Release

DISCUSSION TURNS TO RANGE AND DEFINITION OF PENALTIES IN DRAFT STATUTE IN

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

The statute of the proposed international criminal court should contain

clearly defined penalties, speakers told the Preparatory Committee for the

establishment of the court at this morning's meeting. Several

representatives went on to say said that if the statute was to be considered representative of all the legal systems of the world, it should include the death penalty.

Citing the Islamic legal code of the sharia, the representative of Egypt

said that the death penalty should be included as an option, perhaps with

aggravating circumstances. Switzerland, referring to the principle of nulla

poena sine lege (no penalty without law), called for a precise scale of

penalties in the statute.

The representative of Israel said persons prosecuted for serious crimes, but convicted only of lesser offences should be released. The international

court will not be equipped to deal with misdemeanours.

Several delegations questioned the inclusion of fines as penalties, as

provided for in the draft statute. While Switzerland said that any fines

imposed by the court should be accompanied by terms of imprisonment, Israel

added that if the final statute provided for the levying of fines, it should also provide for sanctions against those who did not pay them.

The representatives of Sweden and of Japan countered with the view that due

to the serious nature of the crimes under consideration by the court, only

prison sentences should be imposed.

The representative of Switzerland noted that the draft statute made no

provision for the restitution of property acquired in criminal activities.

The concept of restitution differed from that of compensation of victims, he said. Israel said that if crime victims were no longer alive, restitution should be made to their heirs. Failing that, payment should be made to the State of the victim's nationality. Sweden added that it had an "open mind" on the question of reparations to victims.

Penalties might be limited for humanitarian reasons, such as the age of

accused persons, said the representative of Chile. The penalty of denying

individuals the right to hold public or elected office might be added to the draft statute.

The representative of Germany suggested that the international criminal

court may occasionally need recourse to the laws of the country in which

crimes were committed. National laws were often better suited to the

cultural context of the country in which crimes were committed. Egypt said

that if genocide was not a crime under the laws of a State party, accused

persons should be sentenced for an equivalent delict, such as mass murder.

According to the representative of Singapore, consistency in the punishment

of offenders was the hallmark of a fair and impartial court. The proposed

court would have little in the way of benchmarks or precedents to which it

could turn. In determining sentencing, the court should take into account

the extent and severity of damage caused by the crimes and any previous

convictions of accused persons for similar offences.