Criminal Code (Cap. 9)
Criminal Code (Cap. 9), article 54D
54D. A war crime is committed where any of the following acts
is committed:
(a) grave breaches of the Ge neva Conventions of 12
August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against
persons or property protected under the provisions of
the relevant Geneva Convention:
(i) wilful killing;
(ii) torture or inhuman treatment, including
biological experiments;
(iii) wilfully causing great suffering, or serious
injury to body or health;
(iv) extensive destruction and appropriation of
property, not justified by military necessity and
carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
CRIMINAL CODE [CAP. 9. 41
(v) compelling a prisoner of war or other protected
person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
(vi) wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other
protected person of the rights of fair and regular
trial;
(vii) unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful
confinement;
(viii) taking of hostages;
(b) other serious violations of the laws and customs
applicable in international armed conflict, within the
established framework of international law, namely,
any of the following acts:
(i) intentionally directing attacks against the
civilian population as such or against individual
civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(ii) intentionally directing attacks against civilian
objects, that is, object s which are not military
objectives;
(iii) intentionally directing attacks against personnel,
installations, material, units or vehicles involved
in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping
mission in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations, as long as they are entitled to
the protection given to civilians or civilian
objects under the international law of armed
conflict;
(iv) intentionally launching an attack in the
knowledge that such attack will cause incidental
loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to
civilian objects or wid espread, long-term and
severe damage to the natural environment which
would be clearly excessive in relation to the
concrete and direct overall military advantage
anticipated;
(v) attacking or bombarding, by whatever means,
towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are
undefended and which are not military
objectives;
(vi) killing or wounding a combatant who, having
laid down his arms or having no longer means of
defence, has surrende red at discretion;
(vii) making improper use o f a flag of truce, of the
flag or of the military insignia and uniform of
the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of
the distinctive emblems of the Geneva
Conventions, resulting in death or serious
personal injury;
(viii) the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the
Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies, or the
42 CAP. 9.] CRIMINAL CODE
deportation or transfer of all or parts of the
population of the occupied territory within or
outside this territory;
(ix) intentionally directing attacks against buildings
dedicated to religion, education, art, science or
charitable purposes, historic monuments,
hospitals and places where the sick and wounded
are collected, provided they are not military
objectives;
(x) subjecting persons who are in the power of an
adverse party to physical mutilation or to
medical or scientific experiments of any kind
which are neither justified by the medical, dental
or hospital treatment of the person concerned
nor carried out in his or her interest, and which
cause death to or seriously endanger the health
of such person or persons;
(xi) killing or wounding treacherously individuals
belonging to the hostile nation or army;
(xii) declaring that no quarter will be given;
(xiii) destroying or seizing the enemy’s property
unless such destruction or seizure be
imperatively demanded by the necessities of
war;
(xiv) declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible
in a court of law the rights and actions of the
nationals of the hostile party;
(xv) compelling the nationals of the hostile party to
take part in the operations of war directed
against their own country, even if they were in
the belligerent’s service before the
commencement of the war;
(xvi) pillaging a town or place, even when taken by
assault;
(xvii) employing poison or poisoned weapons;
(xviii) employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other
gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or
devices;
(xix) employing bullets which expand or flatten easily
in the human body , such as bullets with a har d
envelope which does not entirely cover the core
or is pierced with incisions;
...... omissis .......
(xxi) committing outrages upon personal dignity, in
particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(xxii) committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced
prostitution, forced pre gnancy, as defined in
article 54C(2)( f), enforced sterilization, or any
other form of sexual violence also constituting a
grave breach of the Geneva Conventions;
CRIMINAL CODE [CAP. 9. 43
(xxiii) utilizing the presence of a civilian or other
protected person to render certain points, areas
or military forces immune from military
operations;
(xxiv) intentionally directing attacks against buildings,
material, medical units and transport, and
personnel using the distinctive emblems of the
Geneva Conventions in conformity with
international law;
(xxv) intentionally using starvation of civilians as a
method of warfare by depriving them of objects
indispensable to their survival, including
wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for
under the Geneva Conventions;
(xxvi) conscripting or enlisting children under the age
of fifteen years into the national armed forces or
using them to participate actively in hostilities;
(c) in the case of an armed conflict not of an international
character, serious violations of article 3 common to the
four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely,
any of the following acts committed against persons
taking no active part in the hostilities, including
members of armed forces who have laid down their
arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness,
wounds, detention or any other cause:
(i) violence to life and person, in particular murder
o f a l l k i n d , m u t i l a t i o n , c r u e l t r e a t m e n t a n d
torture;
(ii) committing outrages upon personal dignity, in
particular humiliating a nd degrading treatment;
(iii) taking of hostages;
(iv) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of
executions without previous judgement
pronounced by a regularly constituted court,
affording all judicial guarantees which are
generally recognized as indispensable;
(d) paragraph ( c) applies to armed conflicts not of an
international character and thus does not apply to
situations of internal distu rbances and tensions, such
as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other
acts of a similar nature;
(e) other serious violations of the laws and customs
applicable in armed conflicts not of an international
character, within the est ablished framework of
international law, namely, any of the following acts:
(i) intentionally directing attacks against the
civilian population as such or against individual
civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(ii) intentionally directing attacks against buildings,
material, medical units and transport, and
44 CAP. 9.] CRIMINAL CODE
p e r s o n n e l u s i n g t h e d i s t i n c t i v e e m b l e m s o f t h e
Geneva Conventions in conformity with
international law;
(iii) intentionally directing attacks against personnel,
installations, material, units or vehicles involved
in a humanitarian ass istance or peacekeeping
mission in accordance with the Charter of the
United Nations, as long as they are entitled to
the protection given to civilians or civilian
objects under the international law of armed
conflict;
(iv) intentionally directing attacks against buildings
dedicated to religion, education, art, science or
charitable purposes, historic monuments,
hospitals and places where the sick and wounded
are collected, provided they are not military
objectives;
(v) pillaging a town or place, even when taken by
assault;
(vi) committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced
prostitution, forced pre gnancy, as defined in
article 54C(2)( f), enforced sterilization, and any
other form of sexual violence also constituting a
serious violation of article 3 common to the four
Geneva Conventions;
(vii) conscripting or enlisting children under the age
of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or
using them to participate actively in hostilities;
(viii) ordering the displ acement of the civilian
population for reasons related to the conflict,
unless the security of the civilians involved or
imperative military reasons so demand;
(ix) killing or w ounding treacherously a combatant
adversary;
(x) declaring that no qua rter will be given;
(xi) subjecting persons who are in the power of
another party to the conflict to physical
mutilation or to medical or scientific
experiments of any kind which are neither
justified by the medical, dental or hospital
treatment of the person concerned nor carried
out in his or her interest, and which cause death
to or seriously endanger the health of such
person or persons;
(xii) destroying or seizing the property of an
adversary unless such des truction or seizure be
imperatively demanded by the necessities of the
conflict;
(xiii) employing poison or poisoned weapons;
(xiv) employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other
gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or
CRIMINAL CODE [CAP. 9. 45
devices;
(xv) employing bullets which expand or flatten easily
in the human body, such as bullets with a hard
envelope which does not entirely cover the core
or is pierced with incisions;
(f) paragraph ( e) applies to armed conflicts not of an
international character and thus does not apply to
situations of internal distu rbances and tensions, such
as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other
acts of a similar nature. It applies to armed conflicts
that take place in the territo ry of a State when there is
protracted armed conflic t between governmental
authorities and organized armed groups or between
such groups.
Crime of
aggression.
Added by:
XXIV .2014.12.
Text read from the consolidated PDF published by Legislation Malta. Tables, figures and marginal notes may be incomplete or out of place: the official PDF is authoritative. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.