Appeals Chamber of the Lebanon Tribunal has ruled on applicable law

(see also my previous post on the subject here).

Today, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in its decision on applicable law determined that, with regard to the notion of terrorist acts, conspiracy, and intentional homicide, the Tribunal shall apply relevant domestic Lebanese law and not the relevant rules of international treaty or customary law.

Crime of terrorism

The Chamber found that the Lebanese law, interpreted in the light of international rules binding upon Lebanon, require the following elements for the crime of terrorism:

a. the volitional commission of an act or the credible threat of an act;

b. through means that are likely to pose a public danger; and

c. with the special intent to cause a state of terror;

If the perpetrator of a terrorist act uses for example explosives intending to kill a particular person but in the process kills or injures persons not directly targeted, then that perpetrator may be liable for terrorism and intentional homicide (or attempted homicide) if he had foreseen the possibility of those additional deaths and injuries but nonetheless willingly took the risk of their occurrence (dolus eventualis, namely advertent recklessness or constructive intent).

Conspiracy

The Chamber held that the Lebanese law provide the following elements for the crime of conspiracy:

a. two or more individuals;

b. who conclude or join an agreement;

c. aiming at committing crimes against State security (for purposes of this Tribunal, the aim of the conspiracy must be a terrorist act);

d. with an agreement on the means to be used to commit the crime; and

e. criminal intent relating to the object of the conspiracy;

Conspiracy and joint criminal enterprise can be distinguished in that Lebanese criminal law treats conspiracy as a substantive crime and not as a mode of liability, whereas the doctrine of joint criminal enterprise relates to modes of criminal responsibility for participating in a group with a common criminal purpose.

Lebanon, Interlocutory Decision on the Applicable Law: Terrorism, Conspiracy, Homicide, Perpetration, Cumulative Charging, Case No. STL-11-01/I, App. Ch., 16 February 2011