Abstract
The article deals with the definition of the concept of intent to commit genocide in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, in the document “Elements of Crimes” adopted by the International Criminal Court, as well as in decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, International Criminal Court and in practice of the International Court of Justice. The author reveals constitutive elements of the concept of intent to commit genocide: intent to be engaged in the conduct which would cause destructive consequences for a national, ethnic, religious or racial group as such; intent to reach these consequences; or awareness that they will occur as a result of this conduct in the ordinary course of events. The author indicates slightly different approaches of the international criminal tribunals and courts to knowledge of the consequences as a result of destruction of a group. It is stated that the intent should not necessarily be fixed in documents or formulated in public oral speeches, but may also be certified by facts and circumstances of a crime. The author analyzes different circumstances which may evidence the intent to commit genocide. Special attention is paid to differentiation between individual and collective intent to commit genocide. The author examines the intent to commit genocide in the Holodomor organized against the Ukrainian national and ethnic group.
Highlights
The concept of the intent to commit genocide as the key issue in qualification of this crime is determined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and in the “Elements of Crimes”, adopted by the ICC
This concept has been further developed in the case law of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
The intent to commit genocide as a key element of this crime was present in the Holodomor-genocide against Ukrainians
Summary
The concept of the intent to commit genocide as the key issue in qualification of this crime is determined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and in the “Elements of Crimes”, adopted by the ICC. We cannot find a single Soviet document, where it were stated that there should be killing of Ukrainians, creation of appalling conditions of life for them, starvation to death, prevention of birth or transferring of children from the Ukrainian national group to another with the aim of destroying the group This intent to commit genocide and knowledge can be inferred from relevant facts and circumstances [3]. Stalin and his henchmen knew what the consequences of the famine would be for the Ukrainians and they foresaw and planned these consequences Even those scholars who deny that the famine in Ukraine was genocide stress, “Ukrainian nationalism was attacked because it was perceived as a threat to Stalin’s procurement policies” [Green, 2009: 194], which in legal terms means culpability, the intent to destroy people on the basis of their nationality. Roman Serbyn considers this directive to be “perhaps the best available evidence of the dictator’s genocidal intent against the Ukrainian people” [Serbyn: 2010: 224]
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