Réflexions sur la plainte déposée devant la CPI pour crimes contre l'humanité et de génocide pour développement d'armes de guerre biologique par la République populaire de Chine. Research Papers in Law 1/2020.

Mahfoudh, Haykel Ben (2020) Réflexions sur la plainte déposée devant la CPI pour crimes contre l'humanité et de génocide pour développement d'armes de guerre biologique par la République populaire de Chine. Research Papers in Law 1/2020. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The complaint filed by a US citizen requesting the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to initiate an investigation under Article 15 of the Rome Statute to determine the criminal origin of the development, stockpiling and negligent maintaining of a variant of a type of coronavirus known as COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, raises a dual problem of relevance of the purpose and jurisdiction of the Court for the alleged crimes. It seeks to indict officials of the Chinese state government, its organs, and officials for crimes against humanity, genocide, and even crimes of a terrorist nature by the development and use of biological warfare weapons. On examination, the elements of fact and law put forward by the Complainant do not make it possible to judge the relevance of the allegations and the grounds for the indictment, in particular concerning the elements of the crimes, the threshold of gravity and the criteria for admissibility of an investigation procedure within the jurisdiction of the Court. Procedurally, the opening of an investigation should take into account the admissibility requirements set out in the Statute, in particular the principle of complementarity, the interests of justice, and the interests of victims. At the risk of failing to meet the required criteria, the complaint is an element to be taken into consideration in the Sino-American political tensions against the backdrop of the criminal or non-criminal origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. The issues involved in bringing these rivalries before the Court are not the same for all States Parties; the case of countries whose populations are most affected, such as in Europe, is worthy of note.

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