Principals, Accessories and Sentencing in International Criminal Law: Perceptions, Contradictions and the Status Quo

Abstract

Since the emergence of international and hybrid criminal judicial bodies, the attribution of various modes of liability to perpetrators of the most heinous crimes has occupied a central role. However, the impact of modes of liability on the sentence has parted judges in many instances. While some judges regard the differentiation between principal perpetrators and aiders and abettors as immaterial for sentencing purposes, others have naturally referred to the notion that accessories to a crime are entitled to lower sentences. On first sight, in the absence of statutory guidance in this regard, both approaches, which derive from domestic law, seem to have their place and their advocates