Prosecutor v. Perišić, Case No. IT-04-81-A, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Abstract

This note introduces a controversial ICTY decision which attempted to clarify the requisite elements required to convict the former head of the Army of Yugoslavia with aiding and abetting war crimes committed by other organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The Perišić judgment serves as a reminder of the still unsettled nature of international criminal law on even threshold issues like the elements for a mode of liability. Given that the Special Court for Sierra Leone has already affirmatively rejected the Perišić formulation the case may, sadly, signal the fragmentation of international criminal law.

Keywords: perisic, ICTY, bosnia-herzegovina, croatia, war crimes, yugoslavia, aiding and abetting, liability, VJ, VRS, SVK, specific direction, actus reus, substantial effect, tadic, war crimes, effective control, command responsibility