Abstract
A person found guilty of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity is liable to be sentenced to life imprisonment. However, in terms of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, a person guilty of murder or rape in certain circumstances has to be sentenced to life imprisonment unless there are substantial and compelling circumstances in which case the court has to impose a lesser sentence. This article argues, inter alia, that there is a need to amend South Africa's Implementation of the Rome Statute Act so that courts are obliged to impose life imprisonment on a person found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity unless there are strong reasons to impose a lesser sentence. This would show South Africa's commitment to punish severely those convicted of such international crimes.
Highlights
South Africa ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on 27 November 2000
In order to fully comply with its obligations under the Rome Statute, South Africa enacted the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act in 2002.1 Two of the five objectives of the Implementation of the Rome Statute Act are 'to create a framework to ensure that the Statute is effectively implemented in the Republic' and 'to provide for the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.'[2] Section 4(1) of the same Act provides that a person found guilty of genocide, a crime or crimes against humanity, and a war crime or crimes, '...is liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment, including imprisonment for life, or such imprisonment without the option of a fine, or both a fine and such imprisonment.'
It should be recalled that the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda[5] and the Special Court for Sierra Leone[6] shows that not all people convicted of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity are sentenced to lengthy prison terms like life imprisonment
Summary
A person found guilty of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity is liable to be sentenced to life imprisonment. This article argues, inter alia, that there is a need to amend South Africa's Implementation of the Rome Statute Act so that courts are obliged to impose life imprisonment on a person found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity unless there are strong reasons to impose a lesser sentence. This would show South Africa's commitment to punish severely those convicted of such international crimes. In this article the author argues that genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are serious crimes that should have attracted life imprisonment as a minimum sentence
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