Control Council
Law No. 10
Punishment of Persons Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace and
Against Humanity
(December 20 1945)
In order to give effect to the terms of the Moscow
Declaration of 30 October 1943 and the London
Agreement of 8 August 1945, and the Charter issued pursuant thereto
and in order to establish a uniform legal basis in Glermany for the
prosecution of war criminals and other similar offenders, other than
those dealt with by the International Military Tribunal, the Control
Council enacts as follows:
Article I.
The Moscow Declaration
of 30 October 1943 "Concerning Responsibility of Hitlerites for
Committed Atrocities" and the London
Agreement of 8 August 1945 "Concerning Prosecution and Punishment
of Major War Criminals of European Axis" are made integral parts
of this Law. Adherence to the provisions of the London Agreement by
any of the United Nations, as provided for in Article
V of that Agreement, shall not entitle such Nation to participate
or interfere in the operation of this Law within the Control Council
area of authority in Germany.
Article II
1. Each of the following acts is recognized as a crime:
(a) Crimes against Peace. Initiation of invasions
of other countries and wars of aggression in violation of international
laws and treaties, including but not limited to planning, preparation,
initiation or waging a war of aggression, or a war of violation of
international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation
in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the
foregoing.
(b) War Crimes. Atrocities or offenses against persons
or property constituting violations of the laws or customs of war,
including but not limited to, murder, ill treatment or deportation
to slave labour or for any other purpose, of civilian population from
occupied territory, murder or ill treatment of prisoners of war or
persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private
property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation
not justified by military necessity.
(a) Crimes against Humanity. Atrocities and offenses,
including but not limited to murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation,
imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against
any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious
grounds whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country
where perpetrated.
(d) Membership in categories of a criminal group
or organization declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal.
2. Any person without regard to nationality or the
capacity in which he acted, is deemed to have committed a crime as defined
in paragraph 1 of this Article, if he was (a) a principal or (b) was
an accessory to the commission of any such crime or ordered or abetted
the same or (c) took a consenting part therein or (d) was connected
with plans or enterprises involving its commission or (e) was a member
of any organization or group connected with the commission of any such
crime or (f) with reference to paragraph 1 (a) if he held a high political,
civil or military (including General Staff) position in Germany or in
one of its Allies, co-belligerents or satellites or held high position
in the financial, industrial or economic life of any such country.
3. Any persons found guilty of any of the crimes above
mentioned may upon conviction be punished as shall be determined by
the tribunal to be just. Such punishment may consist of one or more
of the following:
(a) Death.
(b) Imprisonment for life or a term of years, with
or without hard labor.
(c) Fine, and imprisonment with or without hard labour,
in lieu thereof.
(d) Forfeiture of property.
(e) Restitution of property wrongfully acquired.
(f) Deprivation of some or all civil rights.
Any property declared to be forfeited or the restitution
of which is ordered by the Tribunal shall be delivered to the Control
Council for Germany, which shall decide on its disposal.
4. (a) The official position of any person, whether
as Head of State or as a responsible official in a Government Department,
does not free him from responsibility for a crime or entitle him to
mitigation of punishment.
(b) The fact that any person acted pursuant to the
order of his Government or of a superior does not free him from responsibility
for a crime, but may be considered in mitigation.
5. In any trial or prosecution for a crime herein referred
to, the accused shall not be entitled to the benefits of any statute
of limitation in respect to the period from 30 January 1933 to 1 July
1945, nor shall any immunity, pardon or amnesty granted under the Nazi
regime be admitted as a bar to trial or punishment.
Article III
1. Each occupying authority, within its Zone of Occupation,
(a) shall have the right to cause persons within
such Zone suspected of having committed a crime, including those charged
with crime by one of the United Nations, to be arrested and shall
take under control the property, real and personal, owned or controlled
by the said persons, pending decisions as to its eventual disposition.
(b) shall report to the Legal Directorate the name
of all suspected criminals, the reasons for and the places of their
detention, if they are detained, and the names and location of witnesses.
(c) shall take appropriate measures to see that witnesses
and evidence will be available when required.
(d) shall have the right to cause all persons so
arrested and charged, and not delivered to another authority as herein
provided, or released, to be brought to trial before an appropriate
tribunal. Such tribunal may, in the case of crimes committed by persons
of German citizenship or nationality against other persons of German
citizenship or nationality, or stateless persons, be a German Court,
if authorized by the occupying authorities.
2. The tribunal by which persons charged with offenses
hereunder shall be tried and the rujles and procedure thereof shall
be determined or designated by each Zone Conimander for his respective
Zone. Nothing herein is intended to, or shall impair or limit the Jurisdiction
or power of any court or tribunal now or hereafter established in any
Zone by the Commander thereof, or of the International Military Tribunal
established by the London Agreement
of 8 August 1945.
3. Persons wanted for trial by an International Military
Tribunal will not be tried without the consent of the Committee of Chief
Prosecutors. Each Zone Commander will deliver such persons who are within
his Zone to that committee upon request and will make witnesses and
evidence available to it.
4. Persons known to be wanted for trial in another
Zone or outside Germany will not be tried prior to decision under Article
IV unless the fact of their apprehension has been reported in accordance
with Section 1 (b) of this Article, three months have elapsed thereafter,
and no request for delivery of the type contemplated by Article
IV has been received by the Zone Commander concerned.
5. The execution of death sentences may be deferred
by not to exceed one month after the sentence has become final when
the Zone Commander concerned has reason to believe that the testimony
of those under sentence would be of value in the investigation and trial
of crimes within or without his zone.
6. Each Zone Commander will cause such effect to be
given to the judgments Of courts of competent jurisdiction, with respect
to the property taken under his control pursuant thereto, as he may
deem proper in the interest of Justice.
Article IV
1. When any person in a Zone in Germany is alleged
to have committed a crime, as defined in Article
II, in a country other than Germany or in another Zone, the government
of that nation or the Commander of the latter Zone, as the case may
be, may request the Commander of the Zone which the person is located
for his arrest and delivery for trial to the country or Zone in which
the crime was committed. Such request for delivery shall be granted
by the Commander receiving it unless he believes such person is wanted
for trial or as a witness by an International Military Tribunal, or
in Germany, or in a nation other than the one making the request, or
the Commander is not satisfied that delivery should be made, in any
of which cases he shall have the right to forward the said request to
the Legal Directorate of the Allied Control Authority. A similar procedure
shall apply to witnesses, material exhibits and other forms of evidence.
2. The Legal Directorate shall consider all requests
referred to it, and shall determine the same in accordance with the
following principles, its determination to be communicated to the Zone
Commander.
(a) A person wanted for trial or as a witness by
an International Military Tribunal shall not be delivered for trial
or required to give evidence outside Germany, as the case may be,
except upon approval by the Committee of Chief Prosecutors acting
under the London Agreement
of 8 August 1945.
(b) A person wanted for trial by several authorities
(other than an International Military Tribunal) shall be disposed
of in accordance with the following priorities:
(1) If wanted for trial in the Zone in which he
is, he should not be delivered unless arrangements are made for
his return after trial elsewhere;
(2) If wanted for trial in a Zone other than that
in which he is, he should be delivered to that Zone in preference
to delivery outside Germany unless arrangements are made for his
return to that Zone after trial elsewhere;
(3) If wanted for trial outside Germany by two
or more of the United Nations, of one of which he is a citizen,
that one should have priority;
(4) If wanted for trial outside Germany by several
countries, not all of which are United Nations, United Nations should
have priority;
(5) If wanted for trial outside Germany by two
or more of the United Nations, then, subject to Article IV 2 (b)
(3) above, that which has the most serious charges against him,
which are moreover supported by evidence, should have priority.
Article V
The delivery, under Article
IV of this law, of persons for trial shall be mades on demands of
the Governments or Zone Commanders in such a manner that the delivery
of criminals to one jurisdiction will not become the means of defeating
or unnecessarily delaying the carrying out of justice in another place.
If within six months the delivered person has not been convicted by
the Court of the Zone or country to which he has been delivered, then
such person shall be returned upon demand of the Commander of the Zone
where the person was located prior to delivery
Done at Berlin, 20 December 1945.
(Signed) Joseph T. McNarney
JOSEPH T. MCNARNEY
General, U. S. Armyt
(Signed) Bernard B. Montgomery
BERNARD B. MONTGOMERY
Field Marshall
(Signed) Louis Koeltz, General d'Corps de Armee
for PIEIRR KOENIG
General d'Armee
(Signed) Georgi Zhukov
GEORGI ZHUKOV
Marshall of the Soviet Union
Source: Taylor, Telford, Final report to the Secretary of the Army
on the Nuernberg War Crimes Trials under Control Council law No. 10,
Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1949; The
Avalon Project |
