The Nature and Elements of Superior Responsibility in the Statute of the International Criminal Court with Emphasis on the Court's Jurisprudence in the Cases of Ukraine and Palestine

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

3 Associate professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

Abstract

One form of criminal responsibility in international crimes is superior responsibility, which includes both military and civilian officials. With the indictments against high-ranking military and civilian officials in the cases of Ukraine and Palestine by the International Criminal Court, based on Articles 25 or 28 of the Rome Statute, the question arises: under what conditions can a superior be held criminally responsible under Article 28, despite the various forms of responsibility established in Article 25? This article, using a descriptive-analytical method, examines the statute and case law of international criminal courts and concludes that superior responsibility in the strict sense is limited to cases where the superior fails to properly fulfill their duty to control their subordinates. As a result, due to their omission and subject to the lack of proof of other forms of responsibility specified in Article 25, they will be recognized as having international criminal responsibility.

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Criminal Law Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 16 September 2025

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