An Odd Couple: Domestic Crimes and International Responsibility in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

This article examines one of the most serious flaws of the Statuteof the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (‘STL’): whileit provides that Lebanese domestic law is the sole source ofcrimes over which the STL will have jurisdiction, it at thesame time applies to these domestic crimes uniquely internationalforms of criminal responsibility, namely joint criminal enterpriseand command responsibility. By doing so, the Statute is in violationof the nullum crime sine lege principle, since it would allowfor the conviction of persons who could not be held responsibleunder Lebanese law. The purpose of this article is to highlightsome ways out of this problem.