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NLJ this week: War crimes from Nuremberg to Putin

14 July 2023
Issue: 8033 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal , International justice
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The Nuremberg trials laid the groundwork for personal international criminal liability, and the process by which Vladimir Putin may one day be held responsible. In this week’s NLJ, Simon Parsons, associate lecturer at Bath Spa University, looks at the lack of individual liability for international crime before 1945.

Parsons outlines the history of attempts to hold war criminals accountable, before turning to some of the issues faced at the Nuremberg trials themselves, in the first of a two-part NLJ series on the individual under international criminal law. He sets out the defences and counters put forward at Nuremberg, including ‘superior orders’.

In the second half of this fascinating article, Parsons will consider how international criminal law is enforced today, and its potential application against Vladimir Putin and other Russian war criminals. 

Read Part 1 here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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