Foreword

Abstract

As this symposium was going into production, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first Judgment in a case where the principal charge concerned attacks on cultural heritage. Trial Chamber VIII unanimously found Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi guilty as a co-perpetrator of the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against religious and historic buildings in Timbuktu, Mali, in June and July 2012.1 Attacks on cultural property have been prohibited in multiple treaties and condemned by politicians, journalists and scholars. But they have rarely been prosecuted at the international level. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has undertaken some important cases, but the destruction of cultural heritage has been treated as auxiliary to attacks on people. As the ICC Al Mahdi Judgment expressly notes, ‘even if inherently grave, crimes against property are generally of lesser gravity than crimes against persons’.2 The Al Mahdi Judgment, while acknowledging the lesser gravity of the crime, does not treat it as auxiliary. Its Judgment details the destruction of mausoleums in Timbuktu, closely examines Mr Al Mahdi’s role in the crime, and endorses expert testimony that, ‘Timbuktu was an emblematic city with a mythical dimension .… [It] is at the heart of Mali’s cultural heritage, in particular thanks to its manuscripts and to the mausoleums of the saints.’3 The Trial Chamber considers not only the religious significance of the buildings, but also their symbolic and emotional value.4