Partial Defense in International Law

Abstract

After the incidents of international crimes in the space of Yugoslavia and Ronda, the international organization under the name of the United Nations Security Council started to establish international criminal courts by issuing resolutions 827 and 955 and after some time, according to the decision of another resolution 52/152, the United Nations General Assembly also established the International Criminal Court in order to bring the perpetrators of international crimes to trial and condemn them to relieve the pain of the world community. However, according to national and international human rights statutes and conventions, the accused also have the rights that have been emphasized in the trial process. Among the rights that the accused is entitled to is citing defenses, including partial defense, which, if proven, does not completely absolve the accused of guilt, but rather reduces the punishment or changes the criminal title, i.e. from intentional to unintentional murder. It has also set forth a criterion for accepting this defense, which is different in countries. In some national courts, the defendant's mental health must have been significantly damaged and in some other cases, if the damage caused to the mental capacity of the accused is not significant, but due to this situation, the accused cannot control his behavior at the time of committing the crime, it is considered a defense. This is while the procedure and regulations of international criminal courts regarding partial defense have neglected not only the rights of the accused, but also the interests of the victims of the crime.