CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ IMMUNITY OF STATE OFFICIALS FROM FOREIGN CRIMINAL JURISDICTION na případy „úředních zločinů“ spáchaných na území státu, který by měl uplatnit svou jurisdikci nad takovýmto zločinem, a různým variantám právní argumentace, na níž by takováto „teritoriální“ výjimka z imunity mohla být založena. Krátce jsou zmíněny též některé další aspekty tohoto tématu, konkrétně (ne)existence výjimek z imunity ratione personae státních úředníků, a otázka, zda obyčejová imunita ra- tione materiae na jedné straně a smluvní režim této imunity na straně druhé jsou součástí jednotného režimu nebo zda se tyto typy imunity ratione materiae odlišují. Závěr je věnován vztahu mezi imunitou ratione materiae a pravidly upravujícími přičitatelnost chování státu podle mezinárodního práva jakožto kritériu pro rozlišo- vání mezi „úředním“ a „soukromým“ jednáním státních úředníků. Key words : immunity ratione materiae ; immunity ratione personae ; universal jurisdiction; territorial exception; attribution of conduct to a state under international law. On the Author: JUDr. Pavel Caban, Ph.D. (*1976) graduated from the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague (1999), where he also received his Ph.D. (2006) and externally taught public international law (2006–2009). He is an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic: from 2000 to 2009 he worked at the International Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; from 2009 to 2013 he was posted in the Embassy of the Czech Republic in the Kingdom of the Netherlands; since then he has been working again at the International Law Department of the MFA CR. 1. Introduction In the last decades, the immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction became a topic of significant importance in the theory of international criminal law, as well as in the practice of states. The increased attention to this topic is connected with efforts to limit impunity for gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and prosecute these violations before foreign courts. Having regard to these trends and efforts, in 2007 the International Law Commission included the topic “Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction” in its agenda with the aim to prepare a set of draft articles with commentaries; the discussions in the Commission on the topic are underway. Perhaps the most disputed and the most interesting issue within this topic seems to be the existence of possible exceptions, and the scope of such exceptions, to immunity ratione materiae of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, i.e. exceptions to functional immunity which exempts State officials from foreign jurisdiction with regard to acts performed by them in their official capacity. The aim of this article is to focus on concepts and arguments supporting the existence of the

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